Bangladesh Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement...
Transcript of Bangladesh Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement...
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Bangladesh
Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement “Nuton Jibon” Project (SIPP-II and NJLIP)
Implementation Support Mission, August 05 – 19, 2015
Aide Memoire
A. Introduction
1. An implementation support mission for the Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement “Nuton
Jibon” Project took place from August 05 - 19, 20151. The objectives of the mission were twofold. For SIPP II, to: (i) review the achievements towards the Project’s Development Objectives; (ii) review progress
on the agreed follow-up actions since the last supervision mission and the follow-up discussions held; (iii)
review progress on proposed phasing-out in selected districts; .(iv) review progress on grading of village
and village credit organizations and discuss required actions based on findings; (v) review implementation
plan and next steps to assure timely completion of outstanding activities under SIPP-II; (vi) review fiduciary
and safeguards related performance; and (vii) commence preparation of the implementation completion and
results report. For NJLIP, to (i) assist and guide SDF in the implementation of the Community Operation
Manual, HR Manual, ESMF and Project Implementation Plan; and (ii) follow-up on the finalization of the
work plan based the date of declaration of the effectiveness.
2. The mission met with the Additional Secretary, Bank and Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of
Finance, the chairman of SDF's Board of Directors, SDF’s managing director and staff at the national level,
and SDF’s regional directors. Field visits were carried out to Barisal, Barguna and Pirojpur during the
mission and the mission observations are provided in Annex V.
3. The draft Aide-Memoire was discussed at a wrap-up meeting held in Dhaka on August 17, 2015 and
chaired by Mr. Arijit Chowdhury, Additional Secretary, Bank and Financial Institutions Division, Ministry
of Finance. The mission would like to thank the GoB and the SDF for the courtesies and cooperation
extended during the mission. A list of agreed follow-up actions is provided in para 61 and also in Annexes
IV, VI and VII. It was agreed at the wrap-up meeting that the aide-memoire would be classified as a public
document under the Bank’s Access to Information Policy.
B. SIPP II
Key Project Data
Key Project data Key Performance Ratings
Board date June 23, 2010 Development Objective Moderately Satisfactory
Effectiveness Date December 05, 2010 Overall Implementation Progress Moderately Satisfactory
Closing Date June 30, 2016 Financial Management Moderately Satisfactory
1 The mission team included Messrs/Mmes: Seenithamby Manoharan (Task Team Leader); Pushina Kunda Ng’andwe
(Senior Rural Development Specialist, Co-TTL); Melissa Williams (Senior Rural Development Specialist); Sugata
Talukder (Operations Analyst); Farhat Chowdhury (Environmental Safeguards Specialist); Sabah Moyeen (Senior
Social Development Specialist); Jaynab Akhtab (Consultant - Social); Mohammed Atikuzzaman (Financial
Management Specialist); Feroz Iftekher (Consultant – Financial Management); Marghoob B. Hussein (Senior
Procurement Specialist); Josef Ernstberger (Agricultural Economist, FAO); and Amani Haque (Program Assistant).
Frauke Jungbluth (Lead Rural Development Specialist) provided electronic inputs.
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Key Project data Key Performance Ratings
Project Age 4 Years & 7 Months Procurement Moderately Satisfactory
IDA Amount USD M 115.75 Overall Safeguards Satisfactory
Disbursed Amount USD M 115.64 Monitoring & Evaluation Moderately Satisfactory
Disbursement Percentage 99.9 Project Management Moderately Satisfactory
Achievement of Development Objectives Status
4. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve the livelihoods of extreme poor communities
and to strengthen the community institutions in selected districts. The project’s progress towards
achieving its Development Objective is rated Moderately Satisfactory2 since 3 out of 5 PDO indicators
are achieved (transparent village institutions, direct beneficiary women share, and beneficiaries from
subprojects) and realization of the remaining two indicators (direct project beneficiaries and increase in
income by 50%) are yet to be achieved. It is expected that the updated numbers will be received once the
on-going independent impact assessment is completed by November 30, 2015. If all the five PDO Indicators
are achieved an upgrading of the DO rating can be considered during the next mission in December 2015.
SIPP-II is now working in 3262 villages3 (1447 SIPP I and 1,815 SIPP II) in 16 districts in which currently
620,893 (target is 652,000) beneficiary households are organized in Nuton Jibon Groups (NJGs). The
women’s share of direct beneficiary households is ninety four percent. On average, about 250-300
households are supported per community comprising all poor, hard-core poor and vulnerable households
in that community. Around 6,242 infrastructure projects including 1,889 GS office buildings have been
completed and an additional 58 subprojects including 51 GS office buildings are at different stages of
completion. Eighty eight percent of the community infrastructure subprojects are being operated and
maintained by the communities. Ninety two percent (2987 out of 3262) of village institutions are reported
to function in a transparent, inclusive and accountable manner. Ninety four percent of decision making
positions are occupied by women. Project monitoring data and field reports indicate a strong impact of the
project on improved living conditions, livelihoods and empowerment in terms of higher income, increased
food availability and variety, increased access to assets, decision making, participation in meetings and
strengthened local institutional structures.
Current Implementation Status
5. The project has continued to make good progress and has largely completed the agreed follow-up
actions of the last mission. Few new actions have been agreed with SDF and provided in para 60 and also
in Annex IV. Overall implementation progress is rated Moderately Satisfactory according to the
ratings given under detailed mission findings. The project was restructured in January 2014, adjusting the
PDO, some aspects of the results framework and disbursement categories and allocations. Project
management at all levels has improved a lot. Though the Credit shows a disbursement of 99.9%, the
2 The project’s updated results framework is provided in Annex-I. 3 Exit strategy for 110 problem villages was agreed in February 2015, and SDF is now in the process of removing
villages which were inactive but still recorded. (Annex IV) – Of them, 27 were only mobilized, but received no funds
and 83 have received partial funding, but had conflicts, some were subject to river erosion. 52 villages were exited
by end of June 30, 2015 and 20 will be exited by August 31, 2015. Balance 38 will be exited December 31, 2015. The
final number of villages in which SIPP-II completed its activities will be 3,262.
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outstanding DA balance is about USD 22 million. Also, an ineligible expense of about USD 29,000 is yet
to be refunded by SDF. The following progress, since inception of the project, has been achieved4:
Almost all villages have accessed village development funds – remaining ones have either not received
funds or only partially received funds and are in the process of being addressed through SDF’s exit
policy; a total of 45,628 Nuton Jibon Groups have been formed.
second generation institutions are operating in thirteen districts and all have received their first IDF
funds;
phasing-out activities have progressed largely as planned and 2,896 villages in sixteen districts have
become members of their respective NJCS;
1889 Gram Samiti offices have been completed, against a total of 1,940 GS offices in SIPP-II villages;
48,781 youth are in employment of which 23,186 are in wage employment and 25,595 are in self-
employment;
35,321 vulnerable received a one-time grant of which 33,828 started income generating activities;
about US$ 5.82 million have been mobilized from savings;
the cumulative rate of repayment for Shabolombi funds stands at around 95 percent, yet additional
portfolio issues like portfolio at risk, delinquency ratio and rate of return on assets have been identified
and are detailed in the AM;
the cumulative amount disbursed in Shabolombi funds amounts to BDT 8,853.70 million among
417,971 NJG members (from BDT 3,165.2 million disbursed by the project originally);
ten business linkages have been formed with Grameen Danon Food Ltd, BRAC Chilling Center, Bio-
Science Agro, Milk Vita, Bondhu Chola, Zil Bnagla Sugar Mills, Lal Teer Seed Ltd, ACI, and Grameen
Phone companies;
village grading has been completed in 3,171 villages (target is 3262) of which 2,703 have been graded
in categories A and B (of four categories); differences per district and region exists related to the
percentage of villages graded C and D with SIPP-I districts having the largest share;
village credit organization rating tool has been developed and rating has commenced;
third party/process monitoring is ongoing and quarterly monitoring meetings in all regions regularly
conducted; follow-up actions on the process monitoring findings are now recorded more systematically
an exit strategy/write-off procedure has been approved for exiting problem villages (e.g. villages that
have been washed away by floods or with internal conflict); SDF has started using the prescribed
procedures of the exit policy.
Detailed Mission Findings
6. Status of Village Organizations. The number of target HHs mobilized into Nuton Jibon Groups
(NJGs) has increased to 620,893. While the majority of funds have already been disbursed, some villages
still have only received partial funding with the remainder expected to be disbursed to the villages by
August 31, 2015. SDF has prepared a detailed plan by district and region on the remaining activities and
is following up to assure that funds are delivered timely following the established procedures. The details
on the current disbursement status by batch are provided in Annex III.
7. Excess Allocation of Village Funds. SIPP-II allocated funds to a village by multiplying the total
number of households by BDT 15,000. Depending on how many beneficiaries are located in a village this
has resulted in a higher per beneficiary allocation in villages with fewer poor and hard-core poor and under-
allocation in villages with a relatively high proportion of poor and hard-core poor. Therefore, a number of
villages were ultimately not able to use all of the funds allocated and funds were sitting idle on the village
organization’s Bank account. SDF has completed a process, in cooperation with the Gram Parishad, to
transfer these funds back to SDF’s account to be used in other villages where a shortage has been identified.
4 An overview of balance project activities and fund forecast are provided in Annex III.
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Agreements had been reached with the Gram Parishad and the umbrella agreement with the village had
been amended. Upon request by the previous mission, SDF prepared a list of villages showing the
recollected and redistributed funds as of March 11, 2015. According to this list, a total of 458 Gram
Parishads returned an accumulated amount of BDT 184.8 million and a total of 167 Gram Parishads plus
one NJCS received a total amount of BDT 52.9 million. As of March 11, 2015 the difference of BDT 131.96
million was sitting at the bank accounts of the ROs (Regional Offices) but has since then been transferred
to the central SDF account. According to SDF no further recollection and re-disbursement has been done
since March 11, 2015. The mission is concerned that the recollection of funds has only partly been used to
balance the village allocation, but has led to a significant reduction in the overall village allocation. Most
of the villages could not fully utilize the Shabalombi Fund, since the beneficiaries were requesting for
smaller amounts of loans till they become confident of the incomes from their livelihood activities and
ability for repayment.
8. Disbursement of Village Funds. In addition to the above issue of recollecting funds from a significant
number of some 450 villages the mission learned during its field work that other villages also have not
received their full village fund allocation as committed in their umbrella agreements. For example the Uttar
Paschim Rakudia village in Barisal district visited by the mission has not received the allocated 2nd
installment of the Shabolombi Fund. SDF explained that the disbursement was cancelled out of concerns
that some villages were anticipated to having difficulties making full use of their village funds. The mission
is concerned about such cases of cancellation of village funds. The mission requested a full report with a
detailed list of all villages under SIPP II showing their number of households, number of poor and hardcore
poor households, committed village funds according to the formula number of households times BDT
15,000 and the actually disbursed and released funds (IDF, SF, CISF) with the corresponding dates, etc.
The report needs to explain on a village by village basis any divergence from the regular fund allocation
and fund release procedures. SDF agreed to share the report with the Bank by end of August to allow time
for corrective action. Disbursement of the remaining project funds as performance grants to Grade ‘A’ and
‘B’ villages is agreed with SDF and it will be completed before September 15, 2015.
9. Community Financing. The VDRRF provides funds to village organizations as on-lending
revolving funds for income generating activities of project beneficiaries. In addition, the project also
requires beneficiaries to save own funds that are also being collected and on-lend within saving groups.
Being a member of a savings group (internal lending, Jibikayan/Nuton Jibon Groups) is a pre-requisite to
become members of the NJGs and to access credit funds (Shabolombi Funds). From SIPP’s inception to-
date, BDT 3,165.2 million (US$ 40.5 million) has been released to the target communities for on-lending
to program participants through their Village Credit Organizations (VCOs) as a perpetual revolving fund.
As a result, VCOs have so far issued 724,861 loans to 417,936 borrowers, totaling BDT 8,853.7 million
(US$ 113.5 million) from these Shabolombi Funds. The program’s overall average Shabolombi loan is
about BDT 12,214 (US$ 156.6), although more recent loans average around BDT 16,065 (US$ 206).
Program participants have also benefited from loans out of their own savings, dubbed “internal lending”.
To-date, 216,303 internal lending loans have been issued to 142,926 borrowers, totaling around BDT 459.8
million (US$ 5.9 million), and averaging about BDT 2,126 (US$ 27.2) per loan overall, with more recent
loans averaging around BDT 5,274 (US$ 67.6). The mission undertook a detailed review of the loan
portfolio and its performance which is described in the following; more details are provided in Annex V.
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10. Rolling out Advisory Committees. The previous mission recommended gaining of experiences as
soon as possible with the Advisory Committees, which are suggested under the NJLIP design. Such
Advisory Committees are supposed to backstop the “Societies”, given that the VCO Sub-committees of the
“Societies” might not have the requisite microfinance experience to adequately oversee the VCO networks
under their responsibility. The Advisory Committees are to be composed of three people of good standing,
goodwill, and good grounding in the microfinance industry, livelihoods and institution building, which
would meet periodically and offer advice to the VCO Sub-Committees. These services would be pro-bono.
SDF has started to establish and piloted 3-member Advisory Committee in Jamalpur district, which held its
introductory meeting on June 29, 2015. Naturally, limited information about its work, usefulness and
effectiveness has been gained due to the limited time of operation. The mission discussed and requested
SDF to prepare a short activity reporting sheet to collect information and monitor the work of the pilot
Advisory Committee and report to the next mission. If judged satisfactory, this model, or variations thereof,
would be adopted for all new societies. SDF agreed to submit the format to the Bank before September 15,
2015.
11. Isolating SIPP-II Data from the overall SIPP Program Accounts. Data for SIPP-I and SIPP-II is
still being combined in some of the thematic data reporting in the QPR. The mission was able to separate
the numbers for livelihoods interventions and the use of the Shabolombi Fund. Confirmed numbers on
VCOs has been requested from SDF. Numbers for the results framework are available and will be cross-
checked with SDF staff for accuracy. SDF agreed to requests by the mission for data clarification by
September 30, 2015.
12. Community Infrastructure and Social Fund (CISF). A village fund consists of four sub funds
namely, Institutional Development Fund (IDF), Shabolombi Fund (SF), Community Infrastructure and
Social Services Fund (CISF) and Incentive Fund. SDF facilitates the communities for awareness building
of possible types of infrastructures those can mitigate/reduce the effects of natural and climate-related
disasters. Cluster teams assist communities to analyze and prepare infrastructure related social maps that
identify damaged areas and their corresponding needed infrastructures. Accordingly, communities have
identified and prioritized their needs and implement different infrastructures under CISF with technical
support of SDF. Two types of construction works have been implemented at village level. They are
Community Infrastructure Works (CIW) and construction of permanent structure of Gram Samity Offices.
The achievements so far are (a) 1,889 GS Office buildings have been completed and maintained. Another
51 GS office building constructions are in progress and they will be completed by August ’15; (b) 1,578
earthen roads consisting of 2,747 km length have been completed and maintained; (c) A total of 5,640
culverts have been completed and maintained; (d) A total of 6,832 tube wells have been completed and
maintained; (e) A total of 94 school developments have been completed and maintained; (f) A total of
4,6181m length of drains has been completed and maintained; (g) Also 426 different infrastructures have
been completed and maintained; and (h) As of August 12, 2015, out of the 6,300 planned subprojects, 6,242
have been completed and 58 subprojects including 51 GS office buildings are at different stages of
completion and they will be completed by September 30, 2015.
13. Design for new GS Offices. SDF has developed three model designs for GS Offices to suit various
regional soil conditions and the designs are economical and acceptable to the Bank. Some locations may
require soil tests to modify the design of foundations and this will be decided by the Civil Engineers attached
to the Regional Offices of SDF during detailed designs. During this mission the team visited five such
offices in the Barisal Region and held discussions on the quality of design, construction, usage and
operation & maintenance of these offices which were assessed satisfactory. The only observation was the
inadequate capacity of the building to accommodate all beneficiaries. SDF was requested to revisit the two
types of designs and make suitable adjustments in terms of the size of the buildings and to accommodate
libraries with books.
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14. Skills Development/Youth Employment. A total of 48,781 youth have accessed wage and self-
employment with facilitation from the project. Out of these, 25,595 youth are self-employed and
23,186 youth are wage employed. The mission observed that there had been no significant
movement in terms of percentage of villages reporting OTR above 95%, which remained at 66%
as the previous mission. The project reported slight improvements in repayment rates in Jamalpur
and Gaibandha, while Barisal declined slightly by 2%. The overall CRR for skills development
loan was at 87% and still required efforts to improve. Similarly, CRR for employment loans was
only slightly better at 89%. The project has been able to identify the key factors affecting the low
repayment rates that include weaknesses in GS facilitation, migration and marriage. Efforts were
underway to take action with follow up communication with youth who have migrated and
provision of capacity support to cluster teams and GSs to carry out their functions properly. The
project is urged to intensify this support so that improvements can be seen in loan performance.
15. Analysis of Impact on Employment Generation. A consultant has been recruited to undertake
a study on the performance of the employment generation sub-component. The study is expected
to assess all aspects of the sub-component including effectiveness of training provided through
skills development loans, factors affecting youth dropout rates, employment mobility and
effectiveness of enterprises/income generating activities initiated by youth. Field testing of survey
instruments has already taken place and enumerators have been mobilized to the field. The mission
held extensive discussions with the consultant and provided additional guidance and inputs to the
questionnaires prepared for the survey. SDF agreed that a draft report will be ready to be shared
by September 15, 2015 and the task team has requested SDF to submit the draft to the Bank for
review and comments prior to its finalization. The final report is expected to be finalized by
September 30, 2015 and will be an important input to the ICR expected to take place later.
16. One Time Grant. Out of 36,817 vulnerable people identified during the PIP process, 35,321 (96%)
have received the one time grant amounting to BDT 158.31 million. 27,619 have gone on to become
members of Nuton Jibon groups and 85% of them have begun savings activities. A total of 10,109 have
accessed Shabolombi Fund, representing 29% of beneficiaries who have potentially moved a step up on the
poverty ladder as they are actively involved in income generating activities and have developed capacity to
repay loans. However, the number of OTGs that do not reach that capacity is quite significant (61%). SDF
should make every effort to improve their involvement in savings and credit activities but should also focus
on strengthening linkages for Government safety net programs, especially for those vulnerable groups that
do not have the physical capacity to be active project members (eg. Elderly OTGs). This strategy should be
strengthened under the new NJLIP.
17. The mission was informed that SDF plans to conduct a study on OTGs that will allow for a more
detailed assessment of the outcomes of project support on these groups. The study will cover basic
demographic information, year support was received and activities initiated through this support; for those
OTGs that have joined NJ groups, how much they are saving, how much is being borrowed through internal
lending (for what purpose) and investments being made through access to Shabolombi funds and what kind
of income is being generated from such activities. In addition to areas that have been identified for
assessment, the mission also recommends that the study look at training needs for these groups and how
many are aware of Government social programs and whether they are accessing additional social services.
For the elderly, it would be important to collect data on how many have National ID cards. Questions related
to the mentioned issues should be included in the questionnaire planned for finalization by August 27, 2015.
The study is expected to commence thereafter and will be undertaken by the MEL Unit in cooperation with
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relevant HQ and field Staff. A final report is expected to be available by SDF to the Bank by September 30,
2015 and will be an input to the ICR.
18. Participatory Vulnerability Assessment (PVA) and Disaster Management. The objective of the
framework is to ensure whether any village plans have risks identified and mitigation measures built-in. It
is also to ensure that vulnerable groups have been identified through the social mapping and vulnerability
analysis process. All SIPP-II villages have completed the Participatory Vulnerability Assessment (PVA)
and risk mapping and planned infrastructure investments accordingly. 2116 Gram Samitis have been
equipped with disaster risk management equipment (e.g. life jackets, megaphones, first aid boxes, etc),
Disaster Volunteer Teams have been formed and trained in 2,278 villages. In addition 1,525 Gram Samitis
have initiated collection of emergency funds to manage and cope with the impact of disasters on the most
vulnerable. Following the previous mission request to finalize the emergency fund guidelines, SDF has now
finalized the guidelines, which were reviewed and cleared by the mission. So far SDF reports that none of
the emergency funds have been accessed. The mission’s field assessment provided a mixed picture; while
some villages consider the availability of the fund useful, others prefer to transfer the fund e.g. to the IDF
fund and provide more training as they deem the fund too small for real emergency. The mission repeated
its previous request that SDF needs to propose a way forward on handling and oversight for these funds.
This should be done in consultation and agreement with the villages concerned. The follow-up actions
should be completed by September 30, 2015 and shared with the Bank. SDF should also collaborate with
other similar projects to make this activity more meaningful.
19. Second-tier Institutional Set-up and Phasing Out. The networking of village level institutions into
second generation organizations (Nuton Jibon Community Society –NJCS) at the cluster and district levels
has significantly progressed over the last months and is considered on schedule. The Societies are a two
tier (Cluster and District level) umbrella organization, to support member village institutions on the
organization development, savings and credit, and establishment of a community professional pool for
technical assistance and capacity building services. As of August 15, 2015, the formations of 124 cluster
level societies and 14 district societies has been completed with the key committees formed and trained.
All 14 district societies and 124 cluster societies have already offices. By end-June 2015, a total of BDT
120.5 million has been disbursed to the societies at the various levels for capacity building and Institutional
Development Fund (IDF) as a start-up fund to develop their services. Two districts (Naogaon+Kurigram)
have yet to receive their IDF. A total of 2,896 villages are enrolled as members of the NJCSs and most of
them (94%) deposited their membership fee at a total amount of BDT 27.42 milllion. The Gaibandha and
Jamalpur Societies have been registered under the Societies Act 1860 and the registration process of
Nilphamari, Barguna, Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Bagerhat, Dinajpur, Sherpur and Sirajgonj districts has already
been started. Overall SDF’s detailed plan for the development of all SIPP-II societies and implementation
is on track.
20. The formation and performance of the NJCS is a critical part in of the exit strategy and handing over
of responsibilities from SDF to the beneficiaries’ own institutions. This process is scheduled over a period
of 24 months with a diminishing number and changing role of district officers and cluster facilitators. The
phasing out plan also involves a series of trainings, workshops and consultations at all levels explaining
and understanding the changing functions and responsibilities. At this moment, the phasing out and handing
over plan is implemented on track and the discussions with beneficiaries during the mission’s field visits
show a good understanding of the beneficiaries at the village and society level. However, the success of the
NJCS and their ability to handle their future responsibilities is not yet proven. To understand the role and
functionality of the NJCS and to learn from the SIPP II experiences for the new NJLIP a close monitoring
and assessment is necessary. The mission therefore requests to prepare a systematic information collection
and assessment format (e.g. in the form of a data sheet) to regularly report on the activities and performance
parameters of all of the NJCS including financial sustainability information (regular annual balance
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sheets). A proposed format should be shared with the Bank before September 15, 2015 and a regular
summary report should be prepared before each Bank mission.
21. Community Society Registration. After consultation with several lawyers, SDF has determined that
the registration under the Societies Act 1860 would be the most appropriate form of registration. SDF has
prepared a draft text for the Memorandum and Articles of the Association, which was shared with the Bank
for comments and was subsequently revised. The mission reviewed and agreed with the revised draft and
suggests proceeding with the registration of the remaining district societies. It was also explained to the
mission and agreed that the cluster societies would not need a separate registration as they would be
registered as part of the district societies. SDF agreed that registration of four societies will be completed
by October 31, 2015.
22. Gram Parishad Registration. It was already discussed and agreed during the previous mission that
the Gram Parishads will also require legal registration. After an extensive consultation with the legal
community, SDF has determined that the GP registration as “Joint Stock Companies” under the Societies
Act of 1860 was deemed the most suitable option. The mission requested SDF to start drafting the prototype
for the GP Memorandum and Articles of Association in which issues like asset ownership would need to be
clarified. A first draft should be shared with the Bank for comments by September 15, 2015.
23. Livelihood Activities. Investing the Shabolomi loans in productive livelihood activities is the most
important vehicle under the project to generate incremental family income and economic empowerment of
poor and hardcore poor. Overall, the attractiveness of the Shabolombi Fund (SF) is high as shown in the
overall progress reporting figures and confirmed by the mission’s field observation. By end-June 2015 a
total of 417,971 beneficiaries have taken SF loans, which is an increment of some 30,000 during the last 6
months. About 102,000 beneficiaries have by now already taken 3 or more loans with the tendency of larger
scale loans. Dairy production and beef fattening are the most popular income generating activities, for
which nearly half of the SF loans are used. Therefore, dairy production shows the most significant increase
over the last years, which apparently reflects the ability of the project beneficiaries to respond to the
macroeconomic opportunities of an emerging dairy sector and increased dairy demand in the country. In
addition to beef and dairy production, the other half of the SF loans is invested in a wide range of agricultural
and non-agricultural activities and confirms that the beneficiaries seem to be well in a position to identify
appropriate investment opportunities. The mission’s field interviews supported by the project data show
impressive OTR numbers (94% as of June 2015) indirectly confirm that the invested livelihood activities
are generally highly productive with sufficient financial returns. To understand the financial returns and
income generating contribution from the livelihood activities, SDF has launched a detailed study using a
random sample of 600 IGAs in four districts and 60 villages. This study is currently on-going and is
expected to yield real field data on productivity, financial returns and technology adoption rates for all
major IGA. SDF agreed that the results are expected to be available by end-September 2015.
24. A critical element in the implementation of livelihood and income generating activities is the provision
of wide range of trainings including exposure visits, as well as the production and distribution of training
and promotional materials, posters, leaflets, etc. Alerted by observations from the process monitoring,
SDF’s capacity building team has conducted a comprehensive training assessment study to understand the
impact of the technical training activities and assess the adoption rates of key technologies for the most
important income generating investments. The results of this study provide a very good understanding of
the adoption rates of technologies, which in most cases reach about 60-80%. The study, however, also
collected a wide range of additional and highly valuable information about project beneficiaries’ and points
out a number of weaknesses in relation to the CPs and their capacity to provide services to communities.
The mission highly recommends using this study and its data for further analysis and lesson learning.
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25. Business Promotion and Livelihoods and Market Linkages. The objective of this sub-component is
to broker the development of institutional and informational linkages. Linkages with three key government
line departments i.e. the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the Department of Livestock (DLS),
and the Department of Fisheries (DoF) are now established with project beneficiaries for ensuring technical
backstopping support services, qualitative inputs and collective marketing. A total of 52,600 project
beneficiaries are estimated to have directly benefitted from such government line department support. SDF
also cooperates with the Department of Youth Development. SDF has furthermore successfully established
linkages with private companies - Rangpur Dairy, Milk Vita Ltd., BRAC Dairy (Aarong), and Pran Milk
for milk processing, Zil Bangla Sugar Mill for sugarcane and Renata Ltd. and Novartis Bangladesh Ltd. for
providing skills development training, vaccines and de-worming tablets at subsidized rates. A total of
34,800 beneficiary households are reported to benefit from direct formalized linkages with private sector
partners. In addition a significant number of project beneficiaries (7,268) have succeeded to access formal
Micro-finance Institutions (MFI) with a total volume of lending from formal MFI of BDT 217 million.
Producer groups have been instrumental in linking beneficiaries with service providers and up- or
downstream businesses. The project has helped to form about 5,222 active producer groups.
26. Overall, the number of beneficiaries benefitting from the above linkages is relatively small when
compared to the overall number of SF borrowers, which accounts for over 400,000. It is estimated that only
about 20% of the SF borrowers benefit from a direct linkage with a public or private service provider or
business partner. The development of the societies should further promote the linkages of project
beneficiaries in particular with services providers and most of the borrowers should enjoy technical support
from either government line departments of private service providers.
27. Supporting Innovations. Bangla-German Sampreeti (BGS) partnered with SDF under the
development market place window in November 2013 to support project youth with skills development and
linkage to the formal labor market. During the previous mission, activities had been concluded and BGS
was in the process of organizing an experience sharing seminar. A workshop was held in Dhaka on July 27,
2015 and a draft report of proceedings shared with the mission. The draft report included a summary of
partnership achievements. A total of 1,344 youth from SIPP project areas benefitted from skills training out
of which 141 youth dropped out and the remaining 1,153 youth were facilitated to access both wage and
self-employment. 630 youth were formally employed in various sectors such as Garment, Security, Food
Processing, Mobile and Hardware. For the 523 youth who became self-employed, the majority (430) were
women who took up tailoring at their respective villages while the rest (93) were young men who set up
mechanical, electrical and mobile service shops. The draft report also highlighted a number of challenges
faced in supporting youth employment such as inability to sustain daily costs associated with attending
training and factors affecting dropout rates. While factors have been identified, BGS did not provide
indication of which factors are the most prevalent as this information would be useful to SDF to further
refine their strategy of support under the new project. A number of lessons were sited and measures taken
but need to be further elaborated on. In addition, further details should be provided on qualifying the impacts
of the intervention beyond stating that youth are no longer a burden to their families. Information can be
provided in terms of the kind of support youth are providing to their families and whether this can be
quantified to the extent possible. It is recommended that SDF request BGS to incorporate this guidance
prior to finalizing the report. SDF agreed that the final report will be completed by September 30, 2015 as
part of the ICRR input. SDF should collaborate with other similar projects to avoid duplication of efforts.
28. Capacity Building. Following the previous mission’s recommendation to undertake a detailed
assessment of the extent training received is used for planned activities in livelihood activities, the Capacity
Building Cell carried out a survey aimed at evaluating community level training adaptation and its effects
on livelihood activities. A total of 1100 community members were randomly selected from 9 districts in 9
Upazilas covering 24 clusters. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were
used to collect data and 24 case studies were collected on six different trades. Some of the key findings
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from the assessment indicated that more was required to better align training plans with community trade
based needs. Improvements were required in training methods, materials and training delivery. The mission
assessed that the quality of the report was good and provided a basis for better alignment of support provided
by different thematic heads to fit existing demands at the community level. As the report focused primarily
on livelihoods of 6 key sub-sectors, the livelihoods team should make full use of the report to improve
community support and address the challenges identified in the report. The follow up process of actions
taken will be a critical input to the ICR and SDF agreed to share a plan of action with the Bank by
September 15, 2015.
29. Balance Activities and Project Closure. Given that SIPP-II is coming to closure, the mission
requested SDF to prepare a current status on spending, committed activities and planned activities. The
agreed plan is given in Annex III. All SIPP II activities are agreed to be completed by SDF by December
31, 2015. GOB has agreed to request the Bank to advance the closing date, disbursement deadline and last
transaction date with four months grace period to December 31, 2015.
Fiduciary Review
30. The overall fiduciary performance rating of the project is Moderately Satisfactory and the
associated risk is Moderate. The rating is based on a combination of the performance of SDF during the
supervision period between last mission and till August 15, 2015.
31. Key highlights of the performance of financial management are (a) capacity gap of procurement unit
at SDF and training needs to fill the skill gap, (b) completeness and accuracy of procurement plan and
submission of SEPA for review, (c) update on e-GP readiness, (d) quality of IUFRs and timeliness of
submission, (e) resolution of audit observations from external and internal auditors, (f) internal control
restructure for community financing and call back funds, (g) strengthening internal control with detail
financial management manual, HR manual and guidelines for NJCS, (h) initiatives for automation for
accounting system with integration with SDF, region and district level, (i) review of deferred employee
benefit (leave encashment and gratuity), and (j) initiatives for automation of community financing portfolio.
Environmental and Social Safeguards
32. Environment. Environmental safeguards of SIPP II is rated Moderately Satisfactory. The
mission has reviewed overall implementation progress of environmental management and safeguards in
SIPP-II and noted that all infrastructure sub-projects eligible for funding have completed environmental
screening and prepared Environmental Management Plans. The mission is glad to note that GS office
buildings at the Southern region have been able to provide shelter during cyclones as the infrastructure
designs have duly considered local disaster and vulnerability risks. A total of 6117 tube-wells have been
installed in the three regions and arsenic tests performed on 5706 tube-wells revealed that the concentration
of arsenic in 149 tube-wells (138 in Barisal, 2 in Rangpur, and 8 in Jamalpur) exceeded maximum
permissible limit. The SDF is suggested to complete arsenic test of 411 tube wells installed by the project.
Since the occurrence of arsenic contamination in the Barisal region is found to be very high, the mission
recommends to provide alternative water sources particularly rain water harvesting in Barisal region. The
mission recommends that arsenic test be performed twice a year in order to ensure that project is not
providing unsafe water to the community.
33. SDF has initiated several good practices in SIPP-II and the mission is glad to note that a total
of 112 households in 78 villages are now producing vermin-compost and 877 households in 184
villages are using Improved Cook Stove. The community members in general and SDF
beneficiaries in particular are encouraged to plant fruit and timber tree saplings along the improved
roads, within the GS office premises and homestead of project beneficiaries for maintaining green
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environment and soil erosion protection. The mission is pleased to note that a total of 33,785 fruit
and timber saplings have been planted in the last six months and 1,015,372 since the inception.
The mission recommends continuing these good practices in the NJLIP and capturing the impacts
of these environmental good practices in the impact evaluation study initiated by the SDF.
34. Social. SIPP-II does not trigger OP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement, or OP4.10 Indigenous People (IP).
Under the project, villagers form development committees, identify community priorities and chalk out
small projects that benefit the hardcore poor (HCP) and poor. The last quarterly progress report shows that
92% of the village institutions are functioning in an inclusive and accountable manner. Social safeguards
is rated Satisfactory.
35. Although the project did not trigger OP 4.10, follow up supervision missions show that the project
intervention areas in Naogaon, Dinajpur, Mymensing , Barguna, Patuakhali, Jamalpur, and Rangpur have
covered pockets where small ethnic and vulnerable community people (SEVCP) live (based on the
experience of SIPP II, when Nuton Jibon/ SIPP III was designed, OP 4.10 was triggered and an appropriate
framework was designed). The mission notes that SEVCP have been included in cooperatives and common
interest groups and have benefited greatly from the project. There is no negative discrimination reported in
the project against SEVCP, rather they have gained positive benefits in terms of economic improvement
and enhanced social status in the communities through taking on leadership roles in their villages. 85% of
SEVCP HHs have been mobilized into the Nuton Jibon Groups and 70% SEVCP HHs have received SF
loans. 765 NJG members from SEVCP are holding decision making positions in 128 villages. The project
interventions such as cow-fattening, cattle rearing, poultry, fisheries, vegetables, and small shops are
socially and culturally suitable for women and SEVCP. Land is purchased directly for the Gram Samity
office buildings. Project activities mentioned above and others such as repairing small earthen roads,
culverts, school buildings do not require land acquisition, displacement of people or communities and/or
negative livelihood impacts. Therefore, OP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement was not triggered for the project.
36. A significant number of the target HHs (86%) have been mobilized into SIPP II (Project target is
652,000 HHs and achievements as of 10 August 2015 is 564,384 HHs). 35,321 most vulnerable persons
have been supported with the One Time Grants and 95% of them started IGAs. All village level institutions
like GP, GS, Village Credit Organization, Social Audit Committee (SAC), Procurement Committee and
other sub-committees have been constituted as per the guidelines of Community Operational Manual
(COM). About 92% decision making positions of the above mentioned village institutions are occupied by
women.
Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation
37. Progress Reporting. The Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation unit of SDF is producing quarterly/bi-
annually/annual reports to review the project’s progress. This is currently supported by a partly functional
MIS system, which is still limited to Excel based compilation and aggregation at cluster, district, regional
and central level. The Bank did receive the third quarterly (January to March 2015) report as well as the
annual report of 2014 but later than the deadline. Therefore, the SDF management is being requested to
take stern measure to make sure all progress reports including annual report be shared with the Bank and
relevant stakeholders in due time. It is noteworthy to mention that there are still some shortcomings of the
quarterly progress reports which mostly relate to (i) static reporting on numbers rather than on issues,
impacts and results; (ii) lack of detailed information on some of the project activities; (iii) mixing up
reporting on SIPP-I and II – a lot of reporting is cumulative reporting over the entire SIPP period; (iv) lack
of cross referencing information reported in various sections of the report; and (v) lack of information on
next steps, activities for the next quarter.
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38. MIS System. SDF has created a well-functioning Monitoring and Information System since 2012.
The system now allows real time information at all level from village to national level. A predesigned
format of collecting information from village called ‘Village Matrix’ is in place for each project village
which includes all key milestones and core information of that village. The system is to serve as a
management tool for the project to monitor the achievements against set targets, and evaluate the
performance of project implementation to make adjustments to improve performance in the implementation
processes. However, the MIS is not used on a regular basis for work planning or management reviews. It
remains recommended that thematic areas specialists and senior management should use the MIS system
more often and proactively to monitor their relevant activities and progress and identify areas in need of
support. The MLE unit should discuss with the thematic specialists on what additional information would
be useful for them and produce monthly information accordingly. At present, monitoring and reporting
system mostly focuses on activities and inputs only, limiting its robustness and usefulness. A fully well
functional MIS system is essential to support collection, documentation, analysis and reporting
requirements of the project to review the implementation effectiveness periodically to assist the
management to make informed decisions for which credible and timely information flow is critical.
Monitoring & Evaluation is therefore rated Moderately Satisfactory.
39. Impact Evaluation. The follow-up survey to the baseline took place in April 2015 and it will be used
as the independent IE for documenting impacts of SIPP II. CNRS, the consulting firm hired to undertake
the study, have completed data collection and are in the cleaning process. The data is expected to be
available for evaluation towards the end of October and a draft Impact Evaluation report to follow at the
end of November 2015. The findings from the report will be used as part of the Borrower’s Completion
Report.
40. Third Party Monitoring. The mission team received the quarterly process monitoring reports for the
period April-June 2015 for both zones in the North and South. The quarterly reports include brief summaries
of key issues identified during monthly field visits in addition to consolidation of project aspects that require
corrective action. As earlier agreed, SDF should continue to provide these reports as part of their regular
reporting to the Bank. The reports indicate that issues are being taken up and addressed by the SDF team
and quarterly monitoring meetings are taking place where findings of the process monitoring are discussed
in a general forum that includes communities. The previous mission had requested that SDF include a
summary of PM findings in their quarterly reports, however, a review of the most recent quarterly progress
report indicates that this has not started to happen yet. It is recommended that the project team ensure
inclusion of the summary in all subsequent quarterly reports.
41. Information and Communication Technology (ICT). SDF is planning to pilot the proposed ICT
application under SIPP II and then roll it out under NJLIP. A total of 30 villages (10 villages per district in
three districts - Rangpur, Mymensingh and Barisal) have been identified for the pilot. Each community
will be provided with one laptop and 3G internet connection facility. SDF, in collaboration with Data Soft
Company (the software company which developed the MIS software for SIPP-II), has developed an
additional module for recording the financial transactions of the Village Credit Organizations (VCOs). This
module does not have facilities to track all of the village expenses and as such it needs some modifications.
SDF conducted training on this software to relevant staff at cluster, district, region, and headquarter level.
Thirty beneficiaries at community level for basic computer operation and Bangla software training have
been identified; of which majority of them are youth member of Gram Samiti and completed higher
secondary school certificate. A concept note was prepared by SDF and agreed with the Bank. Procurement
of the consultants to complete the package and start piloting is underway.
42. CARTA. The final report for the independent third party monitoring initiated under funding from
CARTA (Citizen Network for Results, Transparency and Accountability) was submitted to the mission.
The report highlighted a number of areas in which SDF could improve the quality of implementation.
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Record keeping of loan documentation was an area sited for improvement and the need to closely monitor
the loan process. The performance of SACs especially in Jamalpur and Gaibandha were a source of concern
as these are among the districts that the project is phasing out from. As District Societies become functional,
they will need to take this issue up and ensure that their member village organizations are accessing
adequate training and support for proper functioning of Social Audit Committees. The report provides key
lessons and recommendations that SDF should take on board for the new project such as the need for
continuous training in key project activities for improved community performance. The findings from the
report need to be addressed and documented as part of the completion process and will be an input to the
ICR.
43. Social Observatory. In response to recommendations that came out of the Social Observatory Team
visit to Bangladesh during the previous mission, the project has made some modifications to its reporting
of process monitoring. A summary of key findings has been incorporated in the report that highlights critical
issues to be addressed. It is the expectation of the mission that SDF take full advantage of the improved
presentation of data to focus on the key issues where remedial action needs to be taken.
Governance Aspects
44. Exit Strategy and Misappropriation of Funds. The mission noted the continuous progress made in
the implementation of the exit strategy from villages that had been earlier identified to have had conflict,
been washed away and lacked motivation to participate in project activities. During the previous mission,
it was reported that 74 villages (all from SIPP-1 in Jamalpur and Gaibandha) were in the process of being
exited. SDF efforts to provide facilitation support resulted in the activation of activities in 2 villages leaving
72 villages to be withdrawn from. Based on information presented to the mission, SDF reported that out of
72 villages, 57 villages have already completed the withdrawal process and been given hand over letters.
SDF agreed that the process for the remaining 13 villages is almost complete and expected to be finalized
by August 31, 2015.
45. The recorded cases of misappropriation of funds have been updated since the last mission and currently
involve 71 villages, up from 61 villages reported during the previous mission. A total of BDT 14.7 million
was reported to have been misappropriated and BDT 8.9 million recovered so far. Jamalpur, Gaibandha
and Dinajpur recorded the highest proportions of misappropriation but progress or recovery is evident in
both Jamalpur and Gaibandha. Dinajpur remains with the lowest recovery rate and SDF should step up
efforts to improve the recovery rate. A number of actions have been taken by SDF as part of disciplinary
efforts including the termination of 23 staff members from their positions on account of involvement in
misappropriation. Further, legal action has been taken in 22 villages where cases are pending actions and
decisions before the courts of law. The project team is encouraged to continue reporting and updating the
list as required and as part of good governance practice.
46. Governance Actions and GAAP. Following the request by the mission for more detailed information
concerning implementation of GAAP, the project has made efforts to provide additional information on the
number of GAAP plans implemented, number of risks identified and those mitigated. For the first half of
the year, a total of 852 GAAP reviews have been conducted in which 3,887 risks were identified and 75%
of issues addressed. More encouraging observations have been made in village organizations relating to
record keeping, project awareness and active participation among others. The project should make all
efforts to continue reporting on the effectiveness of the action plans and provide additional information on
efforts made to address remaining risks as part of the standard reporting procedure.
47. Grievance mechanisms. The project reported that a total of 212 grievances had been recorded
covering services and benefits, work environment, relationship reporting, discipline and conduct,
misconduct with primary beneficiary and anonymous letters. Out of the complaints received, 185 (87%)
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were addressed and the remaining 27 (13%) lacked merit and could not be pursued further. Among actions
taken were arbitration, issuance of warning and explanation letters, transfers and regular follow up to ensure
compliance with mechanism in place. It was reported that 15 staff members were issued with warning and
show cause letters. SDF is reminded of the importance of reporting and keeping proper documentation of
the process to demonstrate use of the system and understand its effectiveness. This information will also be
a key input into the upcoming ICR.
48. Allegations on Corruption, Misuse and Misbehavior. In October and November 2014, SDF received
two letters (one also submitted to the Bank) making allegations of various kinds against the regional director
and some district staff in Rangpur region, ranging from misbehavior, lack of work ethics, additional
activities outside of work program, motorcycle renting procedures, to encouragement of reporting and
reporting better results on village progress and performance than in reality. In addition the Bank received
two additional complaints (one email, one letter) in February 2015 alleging the potential likelihood of
misappropriation of village funds in Rangpur and Barisal regions.
49. Following an agreement which was made between the Bank and SDF, a site visit was undertaken by
the 3-person team constituted to probe the allegations in December 2014 and then in March 2015 to Rangpur
Region covering 10 villages in Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Rangpur districts and 7 cluster offices. The
probe committee held separate meetings with district teams and a special meeting with the District Manager
and 2 female staff from Kurigram district to assess working environment. In total, 95 staff at different levels
were interviewed and written statements obtained from them. The Enquiry Report submitted to the mission
team included a matrix of the key issues reviewed by the probe committee and the outcomes of those
investigations. A number of recommendations were made and SDF Management has been addressed and
followed them up. One of our staff from WB also visited Rangpur region from May 2 to 7, 2015 and
discussed and interviewed several staff from cluster to regional level and found that the allegation against
Regional Program Director is not true. With regard to the financial allegations, the mission appreciated that
the probe committee was able to verify that the process of recalling funds had followed the proper
procedures along with amendments of the Umbrella Agreements signed with the GPs. What the report was
not able to state though was whether these funds were properly recorded in the accounting system of SDF.
It is important that any revisions relating to funding are properly recorded in the books of accounts at HQ
level. Additionally, while the mission appreciates the work conducted by the probe team, it would
encourage the inclusion of finance/community finance personnel in such teams when it comes to matters
of finance. SDF is expected to remain vigilant in addressing similar issues in the future and also taking
necessary action along with documented evidence to show what has been done.
50. Communication Strategy. The Communications team has completed a solid analysis of
communication needs and preferences among targeted communities in the three regions that should guide
the production of communication products throughout the implementation of NJLIP. The analysis shows a
need for more graphic intensive communications—pictures, posters, video, television spots, etc. that can
be better understood by illiterate populations. This, coupled with findings from the capacity building
analysis that identified the need for more visual products that trainees can keep after courses, signal the
need for close collaboration between Communications, Capacity Building, and the Technical units. The
mission discussed a joint campaign with SDF focusing on youth employment, particularly for those who
migrate for international jobs. The above three units should develop a campaign that educates youth about
their rights, safe avenues for finding migrant jobs, questions to ask at job fairs, and how to seek help when
in overseas. SDF can also explore potential partnerships with government agencies and NGOs to educate
youth about the dangers of human trafficking. On the website, the Communications Unit should take the
lead in developing content for the site and feeding content for upload to the IT specialist as needed. This
will free up time for the MIS to concentrate on upgrading the MIS system to support real-time management
decision-making. The Communications Unit should also open an SDF Facebook page and cross post news
items and case studies.
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51. VCO Computerization in SIPP-I and SIPP-II Villages. Previous missions extensively discussed the
goal of ultimately computerizing VCO records in SIPP-I and SIPP-II villages (this provision is available
for new villages under NJLIP) as critical for, among other things: (i) improving the accuracy of the data
handled by these VCOs; (ii) facilitating the production of vital financial ratios and basic books of accounts
(balance sheets, profit/loss statements, cash flow statements, etc.); and (iii) facilitating timely transmission
of VCO data to second-tier institutions (“Societies”), as well as to SDF, which is vital for effective
monitoring and timely intervention. A pilot is agreed to be launched to understand the constraints and
opportunities of a computerization of the microfinance transactions at the VCO level. SDF, with the support
of a service provider, is developing software to capture these elements, as part of its monitoring and
evaluation system. The mission was informed that parts of the user interface have been developed, but the
software is not yet completed. The mission discussed and agreed on a concept note for the pilot, which
states the key objectives/expected outcomes of the pilot (i.e. the parameters against which the pilot’s
success/failure will be judged). The mission also agreed on the way forward for implementing the pilot
including a time-bound action plan, which is attached in Annex VI.
52. Lessons Learned: Allocation of funds to project villages should be based on the number of project
beneficiaries and not on total population. A simple village community institutional structure along with
strict enforcement of manuals and simple business processes is necessary to operate the funds of livelihood
activities under community financing. Appropriate capacity building and training for project staff and
beneficiaries on technology, processes and procedures is necessary to increase economic returns of the
livelihood activities. CDD operations could incorporate climate change and natural disaster risks into
community planning process, but execution of such activities should be carried out by authorized agencies
with appropriate risk standards and adequate funds. Producer groups should be adequately guided and
linked to markets and commercial businesses to achieve the economies of scale and to ensure sustainability.
A robust MIS with regular assessments and reliable grievance redressal mechanism is necessary to ensure
smooth and satisfactory implementation of CDD operations.
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Preparation for the Implementation Completion Report
53. The mission agreed with the SDF team that the legal closing date for SIPP II will be December 31,
2015. Thematic studies on youth employment, livelihoods, and infrastructure are underway, and should be
ready by mid to late September. An additional study on community finance was agreed, and SDF will share
the TOR for the study by August 30, 2015. Impact evaluation data collection is complete; data results are
expected by mid-October and the full report should be completed by end of November 2015. SDF should
be able to sufficiently develop the BICRR by end-November 2015, so the ICRR mission will be scheduled
for that time. It is expected that the Bank’s draft ICRR would be ready for internal review by March 31,
2016.
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C. NJLIP
Key Project Data
Project Data Project Performance Ratings
Board Approval: 25 February 2015 Original Cr. Amount: US$ 200 million Effectiveness Date: 03 August 2015 Amount Disbursed: US$ 0.00 million (0.00 %) Original Closing Date: 30 June 2021
MTR Date: 25 October 2018
Achievement of PDO Not Assessed
Implementation Progress Not Assessed
Development Objectives
54. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve the livelihoods of extreme poor communities
and to strengthen the community institutions in selected districts. The project is effective since August 03,
2015. The project will work (i) on second generation activities in 9 districts supported by SIPP II, (ii) on
village development in villages supported by SIPP II and new villages in 7 districts, and (iii) on
development of villages in 5 new districts. Specific assistance on productive investments in all SIPP II
villages is also available under NJLIP. As such, 1,815 existing villages and 2,500 new villages will be
covered under this project. The non-negotiable project principles would be inclusion, equity, participation,
transparency and accountability in addition to the ten golden rules, “Dosh Neeti”. In addition to
development and strengthening of community organizations, financing of community plans, and business
development and institutional strengthening, nutrition awareness and support would be also provided
through Partner Organizations.
Implementation Status
55. SDF has completed meetings and discussions with district Deputy Commissioners. Meetings with
Upazilas are now underway. IEC campaign in Unions will commence soon. Approval from Ministry of
Finance has been obtained on August 16, 2015 to open the DA and then the local BDT account at Shonali
Bank. SDF has plans to submit the application for six month advance to the Bank by September 15, 2015.
56. Project Manuals. The project has completed a final set of project manuals for NJLIP. This includes
(a) a Community Operation Manual, (b) a Project Implementation Plan (PIP), a Human Resource Policy &
Manual, and (c) an Implementation Manual for the Productive Investment Fund (PIF). The mission
discussed the contents and details of these manuals with the SDF key staff in detail to get ready with the
project implementation.
57. Project Implementation Readiness. The project has been declared effective on August 03, 2015.
Reallocation of staff to all agreed positions is completed and the vacancies will be filled through competitive
process. SDF has agreed to maintain the staff positions as per the agreed organogram. All manuals are being
printed and they will be made available to all project staff by August 31, 2015.Counterpart funding from
the GOB is expected by September 30, 2015. The revised Procurement Plan has been reviewed by the Bank
and returned for further revision. SDF agreed to submit the revised work plan to the Bank by August 31,
2015.
58. Environment. The final version of the Environmental and Social Management Framework
(ESMF) of the Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project (NJLIP) has been disclosed by the
SDF and shared with the regional and district offices. The mission recommends that a copy of the
ESMF be shared with all cluster offices so that field staffs can use the document as a ready
reference. As agreed during the last mission, SDF recruited a consultant for preparation of an
Operational Manual so that the recommendations of the ESMF are sufficiently incorporated into
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the COM manuals and also translated into simple guidelines to be used by the cluster offices and
respective SDF staffs in the planning and implementation of sub-project. It was also agreed that
the consultant would prepare training modules and provide training on environmental and social
safeguard issues to all SDF staff that are assigned safeguard functions. The mission is concerned
that the assigned tasks have not been completed by the consultant yet. The mission recommends
that SDF should take proactive action to complete these tasks without compromising quality of the
Operational Manual and training to facilitate implementation of environmental safeguards and
management in the infrastructure and livelihood components of the NJLIP.
59. To mainstream environment into the NJLIP interventions, it was agreed that SIPP II staffs to
be transferred to NJLIP for infrastructure and livelihood activities will also be responsible for
environmental management and safeguards. The mission has reviewed the Terms of Reference
(TOR) of the Manager, Infrastructure and Manager, Livelihood based at the PMU in order to make
sure that relevant activities on project’s environmental management and safeguards are duly
incorporated in their TOR. As recommended by the mission, SDF incorporated environmental
tasks in the TOR of Manager, Livelihoods. The mission also recommends that the relevant
environmental management functions be included in the TORs of SDF staffs based in regional,
district and cluster offices in order to make the NJLIP interventions environmentally sustainable.
60. Overlap of SIPP II and NJLIP Implementation. The implementation of SIPP II is expected to be
closed on December 31, 2015. But, the IDA funds are adequate to meet expenses only till August 31, 2015.
NJLIP Credit was signed on June 30, 2015 and the implementation is now on. The DA has been opened
and the first disbursement from IDA is expected by mid of September 2015. The counterpart fund from
GOB is expected by mid of September 2015 and this will be used for operation expenses such as salaries
of staff of NJLIP at national, regional and district levels. NJLIP has no provision for retroactive financing.
61. Agreed Actions. Actions agreed with SDF during this mission are stated below:
Agreed Actions By
Whom By When
SIPP II
1 Format of activity report sheet to monitor societies will be submitted to
the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
2 Isolated data of SIPP II from overall SIPP program will be submitted to
the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
3 A note on utilization of emergency funds in villages will be submitted
to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
4 Format on systematic information collection and assessment of NJCSs
will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
5 Complete registration of 4 district community societies SDF October 31, 2015
6 Draft MOA and AOA for registration of GPs will be submitted to the
Bank SDF September 15, 2015
7 Report on productivity, financial returns and technology adoption of
livelihood activities will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
8 Final report on supporting innovations will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
9 Report on assessment of capacity building of SDF staff will be
submitted to the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
10 Release agreed performance grants to ‘A’ and ‘B’ grade villages SDF September 15, 2015
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11 All SIPP II activities will be completed and the project will be closed SDF/
WB December 31, 2015
12 Draft impact evaluation report SDF/
WB November 30, 2015
13 Submit evaluation report on training of beneficiaries on livelihoods to
the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
14 Initiate action against those responsible for the ineligible expenses and
complete the refund to the Bank SDF ASAP
15 Submit request for early closing date to the Bank SDF ASAP
16 Complete Borrower’s ICRR and submit to the Bank SDF November 30, 2015
17 Complete Bank’s draft ICRR for review and processing WB March 31, 2016
NJLIP
18 Submit revised work plan and procurement plan to the Bank SDF August 31, 2015
62. Next missions. The next implementation support mission for NJLIP is tentatively planned for first
week of December 2015. An ICRR preparation mission for SIPP-II is also tentatively planned for the first
week of December 2015.
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Annex I
SIPP II Results Framework Revised Project Development Objective: To improve the livelihoods of extreme poor households and to strengthen the community institutions in selected districts
5 Baseline value is end achievements of SIPP-I (as per ICRR). 1,407 (excluding 40 pilot villages of SIPP-II) village institutions were formed at the end of the project (June’11). 1,224 fund recipient villages out of the 1,407 villages found functioning in a transparent, inclusive and accountable manner. 6 SIPP-II is a consolidation and scaling up of SIPP-I activities and involves a total of 3,262 villages. In total, 92% (2,987/3,262) villages are functioning in an inclusive, transparent and accountable manner. 7 Mid Term Impact Assessment (July- Sept’13) showed that 35% (from the sample respondents) HCP and Poor HHs members’ income have been increased by 50 percent since the baseline, whereas the target is 50 percent by the end of the project. 8 Estimated from PAD, total direct HHs for SIPP I and II – 1,141,700(3262*350). Infrastructure works have been completed in 2987 villages where the direct benefited HHs from completed infrastructure sub-projects are 10,45,450 which is 92% (10,45,450/1,141,700) of total direct beneficiaries.
PDO Level Results Indicators C
ore
D= Dropped C= Continue
N= Ne R=Revised
Unit of Measure
Baseline Cum. Progress
as of Dec. 2014
Cum. Progress as of
June 2015
EoP Target
Data Source/ Methodology
Indicator One: Village institutions supported by the project are functioning in a transparent, inclusive and accountable manner, as per project guidelines
C Number 1,2245 2,8466 2987 2,753 MIS & Internal assessment
report
Indicator Two : Direct project HHs beneficiaries N Number 258,113 616,036 620,893
652,000
MIS report
Indicator Three: Direct beneficiary women as a share of direct project HHs beneficiaries N Percentage 90
94
94 90 MIS report
Indicator Four: Increase in HHs income by at least 50 percent against base year for 50 percent of targeted households by the end of the project
C Percentage 11 357 61 50
SDF study results. Impact assessment study is on-going.
Indicator Five: Targeted households benefiting from improved access to community infrastructure or social services sub-projects
C Percentage 29 81 928
80
MIS & Monitoring report
21
9 The targeted beneficiaries are from vulnerable and marginalized population and holding decision making positions (GS, VCO, SAC & SSC) as per COM.
PDO Level Results Indicators
Co
re
D= Dropped
C= Continue
N= New
R=Revised
Unit of
Measure Baseline
Cum.
Progress as of
Dec. 2014
Cum.
Progress as
of June
2015
EoP
Target
Data Source/
Methodology
INTERMEDIATE RESULTS
Intermediate Result (Component A): Community and Livelihood Development at the Village Level : A.1 -Development and Strengthening of Community Organizations Inclusive, accountable and sustainable village institutions formed and accountable for receipt and effective use of resources, according to project rules
Intermediate Result Indicator One: Targeted vulnerable and marginalized beneficiary population holding decision making positions.
N Percentage 100 1009
(39,255) 100
(39,255) 80 MIS report
Female beneficiary N Percentage 94
(36,900) 94
(36,900) MIS report
Reps in comm. based decision & mgt. str. from vul./marg. beneficiaries-male
N Percentage 6
(2355) 6
(2355) MIS Report
Target beneficiaries/ People participating in community based decision making & mgt str. – female
N Percentage 94
(580,092) 94
(582,265) MIS Report
People participating in community based decision making & mgt str. – male
N Percentage 6
(35,944) 6
(35,964) MIS Report
Intermediate Result Indicator Two : GSs accessing and managing project funds as per agreed rules and service standards as in the COM
R
Percentage 33 99
(3,230) 99
(3,235) 80 MIS report
22
10 Total targeted Nuton Jibon Group members/HHs: 652,400 (3262*@200) ≈ 652,000. 11 Including vulnerable who received one-time grand from project 12At the end of SIPP-I, 1376 community infrastructure sub-projects operated and maintained (source: ICRR). 13 A total of 6,088 community infrastructure sub-projects (including GS Office buildings) have been completed as of June ’15 out of which 1784 GS Office building being maintained regularly. The rest of 4,304 (6,088-1784) community infrastructure sub-projects are operated and maintained by the community annually. As of June 2015, a total of 3,774 sub-projects [88 %=( 3,774*100/4,304)] are being operated and maintained by communities. 14 A total of 5287 trained CPs have been identified from 2627 villages out of which there are 585 villages having 5 CPs are offering services.
PDO Level Results Indicators
Co
re
D= Dropped
C= Continue
N= New
R=Revised
Unit of
Measure Baseline
Cum.
Progress as
of Dec. 2014
Cum.
Progress as
of June
2015
EoP
Target
Data Source/
Methodology
A.2: Village Development and Risk Reduction Fund (VDRRF) Establishment and use of VDRRF for productive and social infrastructure, livelihood assets, service sector investment and risk mitigation measures Intermediate Result indicator One: NJG members having mob. savings and accessed additional sources of finance
C Percentage 1710 60
(389,068) 7011
(453,292) 80 MIS report
HCP NJG member Percentage
35 (228,934)
39 (253,686)
MIS report
Poor NJG member Percentage
25 (160,134)
31 (199,606)
MIS report
Intermediate Result indicator Two : Completed community infrastructure subprojects being operated and maintained by communities
C Percentage 4312
71 (2,866)
8813 (3,774)
80 MIS report
Intermediate Result (Component B) :Institutional Development and Livelihoods Promotion at the Inter-village Level - B.1: Development and Strengthening of Inter-village Organizations
Intermediate Result indicator One: Villages having at least 5 Community Professionals (CPs) identified, trained and offering services
C Percentage 0 14 2214 70 MIS report
23
15 Out of 1407 Phase-I villages, 1,071 villages (Gainbandha – 384 + Jamalpur – 435 and Barguna – 252) have been federated at Cluster level 16 Community established partnership with Grameen Phone Ltd. for ICT Pilot Program at village level. 17 Source: ICRR. including BL value 18 Staff performance is being done after completion of one year service of each staff and it’s a continuous process. 19 A total of 3171 villages have been graded as per Phasing out plan and 2703 (85%) are graded A&B.
Intermediate Result indicator Two: GSs and VCOs of Phase 1 villages federated at Upazila/cluster level.
C Percentage 0 75 7615 50 MIS report
PDO Level Results Indicators
Co
re
D= Dropped
C= Continue
N= New
R=Revised
Unit of
Measure Baseline
Cum.
Progress as of
Dec. 2014
Cum.
Progress as
of June
2015
EoP
Target
Data Source/
Methodology
B.2: Business Promotion. Livelihoods and Market linkages
Intermediate Result indicator One: Business partnerships established through public/private partnerships with communities
C Number 116 7 7 10 MIS report
B.3: Creating Conditions for Employment Generation
Intermediate Result indicator One: Direct jobs created through project facilitation (and at least 50 percent of them are sustained at EOP)
R Number
7,89317
44,800 48,781 50,000 MIS report
Intermediate Result (Component C):Capacity Development and Partnership Building from Ouster to National Levels- C.1: Capacity building of SDF staff and other relevant agencies Project teams at various levels -State, District - Cluster - other service providers and partners working with the target
Intermediate Result Indicator One: Staff performance appraisal results (following HR Policy) of staff performing at Grades A and B, annually from year 2
C
Percentage 0 88 8918 70 Appraisal report
Intermediate Result Indicator Two: Villages (Gram Samiti, Social Audit Committee and VCO) rated as A or B grades
C Percentage N/A 83 8519 70 MIS report
24
Annex II
Summary of Key Project Activities and Progress
20 GAAP has been prepared in 3172 villages where 34,118 number of risks have been identified/ reviewed and taken actions to mitigate of 24,127 (71%) risks as of June .’15 21 Total 448 issues identified by PMAs in three regions (Northern & Southern zones) and 372 (83%) issues have been resolved as of June 2015. 22 A total of 212 issues/complaints received of which 87% (185) addressed.
C.2 :Supporting Innovation Improved access to new technologies, markets and partnerships for innovation Intermediate Result indicator One: successful proposals for Innovation Pilots awarded by EOP under the Competitive window
C Number 0 2 2 9 Monitoring report
Intermediate Result (Component D):Project Management, Monitoring and Coordination : The project is well managed, coordinated and monitored; and service standards are established and met Intermediate Result indicator One: GAAP recommendations implemented and reviewed annually with the community representatives of project villages
C Percentage 0 67 7120 70 Monitoring report
Intermediate Result indicator Two: Process monitoring recommendations reviewed and implemented/actions taken by SDF Management
C
Percentage 86 81 8321 70 Monitoring report
Intermediate Result Indicator Three: Complaints and Grievance Redressal system established by SDF and complaints received and addressed
C
Percentage 0 82 8722 80 Monitoring report
25
Table 1 - Description of SIPP Batches of Villages
New Batch
Number Description of the Batch
Batch-I 943 villages in SIPP-I and Additional Financing –I, which received VDF
Batch-II 200 villages in SIPP-I, Additional Financing–II –Flood which received FRF
Batch-III 100 villages in AF-II, - Flood and 274 villages under AF-III which received VDRRF
Batch-IV 40 villages where the SIPP-II pilot model was tested under AF-II -Flood which received
VDRRF
Batch-V 90 villages under AF-III which received VDRRF
Batch-VI 140 villages under AF-III but not started during SIPP-I which are receiving VDRRF
Batch-VII, VIII,
IX
Three batches of new 1,675villages planned under SIPP-II which are receiving VDRRF
Table-2: OTR Performance at Different Levels as of June 2015a/
OTR strata # of villages
Internal
Lending
Skill dev. Loan
(Youth)
Employment Loan
(Youth)
SF Loan
≥ 95% 1,575 1,282 1,154 1,968
≥ 90% - < 95% 147 137 133 341
≥ 75% - < 90% 141 140 115 355
≥ 60% - < 75% 85 80 82 177
< 60% 268 289 181 337
Total 2,216 1,928 1,665 3,178 a/ note comments on OTR measurement in community finance section
26
Table-3: Progress of CISF implementation (June 2015)
Type of Infrastructure sub-
projects
Completed infrastructure sub-projects Total on going
Infra. sub-
project as of
Jun. ‘15
Cum. status
as of Dec.’14
Cum. status
as of June
’15
Progress
during Jan. –
Jun. ‘15
A. GS Office Building 1,211 1,784 573 156
B. Construction of CIWs
Earthen Road 1,487 1,578 91 20
Culvert (Piped/Box/ U-type) 1,103 1,173 70 17
Tube-well 919 1,018 99 11
Latrine/ Urinal 94 95 1 0
Cannel 1 1 0 0
Market Shade 3 3 0 0
Private School Building Reparing 88 94 6 1
Drain 38 50 12 7
River Loop Cutting 1 1 0 0
Others 276 291 15 2
Sub-total (B) 4,010 4,304 294 56
Total CISF (A+B) 5,221 6,088 867 212
Table-4: Utilization of SF loans by activity, up to June 2015 (No. of borrowers)
Livelihood
activities
Achieve as
of Dec. 14
Progress (Jan to June ‘15) Cumulative
progress. Rangpur
Region
Jamalpur
Region
Barisal
Region Total % of
invest
Livestock sector 354,554 31,05
5 29,058 7,12
9 67,242 66% 421,796
Transport sector 34,192 1,816 940 1,36
5 4,121 4% 38,313
Agriculture
sector
67,258 5,903 3,164 2,34
6 11,413 11% 78,671
Small trade 129,008 3,995 3,995 5,85
5 13,845 14% 142,853
Fisheries sector 22,728 933 590 2,23
7 3,760 4% 26,488
Others 12,867 1,123 152 445 1,720 2% 14,587
Total 620,607 44,82
5 37,899 19,3
77 102,101 100% 722,708
Table-5: Revolving of SF for IGAs as of June 2015 (No. of beneficiaries)
27
Livelihood cycle Achieve as
of Dec. 14
Progress (Jan to Jun ‘15) Cumulative
progress Rangpur
Region
Jamalpur
Region
Barisal
Region
Total
1st cycle IGA 389,068 14623 11351 2929 28903 417971
2nd cycle IGA 164,223 21709 11907 7404 41020 205243
3rd and above cycle
IGA
67,316 10646 14641 9044 34331 101647
Table-6: Progress of One Time Grant to Vulnerable- as of June 2015 (No. of beneficiaries)
Name of activities Achieve as
of Dec. 14
Progress (Jan to Jun ‘15)
Cumulative
progress Rangpur
Region
Jamalpur
Region
Barisal
Region Total
# of vulnerable received one
time grant 35,192 111 18 0 129 35321
# of vulnerable started small
scale IGA 33,725 41 21 1 63 33828
Table-7: Progress of Mini Farms
Type of mini farm Achieve as
of Dec. 14
Progress (Jan to Jun ‘15) Cumulative
progress Rangpur
Region
Jamalpur
Region
Barisal
Region Total
Beef fattening 4,561 452 415 31 898 5459
Dairy cow 6,015 816 784 143 1743 7758
Goat rearing 2,706 51 77 105 233 2939
Poultry rearing 1,811 89 17 311 417 2228
Vegetable 610 39 221 238 498 1108
Fish culture 44 46 13 42 101 145
Other farming 82 0 22 82 104 186
Total 15,829 1493 1549 952 3994 19823
28
Table-8: Progress of innovative IGA as of June 2015
Livelihood activities Achieve as
of Dec. 14
Progress (Jan to Jun ,15)
Cumulative
progress Rangpur
Region
Jamalpur
Region
Barisal
Region Total
Quail rearing 48 14 7 0 21 69
Rabbit rearing 22 1 2 0 3 25
Bee keeping 45 15 1 0 16 61
Basok medicine plant 45 4 0 0 4 49
Vermi-compost 87 78 47 2 127 214
Breeding buck 23 27 0 0 27 50
Crab cultivation 33 0 0 5 5 38
Ox rearing 11 9 1 3 13 24
Incubation of duck eggs by
rice husk incubator
30 0 8 0 8
38
Squash cultivation 11 2 0 0 2 13
Candle making 2 2 42 0 44 46
Thonga/ bag making - - 42 - 42 42
Total 357 151 150 10 311 668
Table-9: Status of the Youth skill development training
Event
Rangpur Jamalpur Barisal Total
as of
Dec.
14
as of
Jun.
‘15
as of
Dec.
14
as of
Jun. ‘15
as of
Dec.
14
as of
Jun.
‘15
as of
Dec. 14
Cum
Progress as
of Jun. ‘15
Skills Dev.
Training 21,119 21,220 14,890 19,233 8,744 10,177 45,753 50,630
Employed 20.242 21,027 14,521 17,846 8,358 9,908 44,823 48,781
29
Table-10: Status of Village Grading as of June 2015
Region
Total #
of
Clusters
# of
villages
Grading Status (as of Jun.’15) Total
Graded
Villages
% A B C D
Rangpur 43 1,420 768 422 80 89 1,359 96
Jamalpur 36 1,133 410 419 124 151 1,104 97
Barisal 45 709 521 163 19 5 708 100
Total 124 3,262 1,699 1004 223 245 3,171 97
Table-11: Progress of ECCRR as of June 2015
Activity Target
SIPP-I
Achievement
SIPP-I
Target
SIPP-II
Achievement
SIPP-II
Total
Target
Total
Achievement
# of villages completed participatory
vulnerability analysis 159 159
(100%) 2,360
2,229
(94%) 2,519
2,388
(101%)
# of villages formed Disaster Volunteer
Teams (DVT) 265 265
(100%) 2,104
2,088
(99%) 2,369
2,353
(99.3%)
# of Disaster DVT members trained 1,120 1,120
(100%) 18,661
18,183
(97%) 20,152
19,303
(96%)
# of villages set up emergency fund 159 159
(100%) 1,641
1,366
(83%) 1,800
1,525
(85%)
# of villages purchased disaster
preparedness tools and is well equipped
with disaster risk management equipment.
159 159
(100%) 2,360
2185
(93%) 2,519
2,344
(93%)
# of infrastructure sub-projects for which
Environment Management Plan (EMP) is
required and implemented
265 265
(100%) 4050
4036
(100%) 4315
3682
(91%)
# of villages are implementing risk
reduction plan
159
159
(100%) 2319
2247
(97%) 2519
2406
(96%)
30
Annex - III Fund Disbursement & Forecast
Period: July and August 2015
Figures in Million BDT Compone
nt Committed (Jul. to Aug. '15) Contract signed Planned-Aug. '15
Actual
July '15 Estimate Aug '15
Total (Jul-Aug
'15)
Start Date
Completion Date
Actual
July '15
Estimate Aug
'15
Total (Jul-Aug '15)
Start Date
Completion Date
A Community and Livelihood Development at Village Level
A1 Development and Strengthening Community Organizations:
$ 0.60
$ 1.88 $ 2.48 -
$ 0.06 $ 0.06
47.39
146.32 193.71 -
4.00 4.00
Cluster Team's salary 46.40
36.85 83.25
31//8/'15 Printing of 11,000 COM Booklet in English & Bengali.
4.00 4.00 6/8/'15
31/8/'15
Cluster Team's ELE payable (Actual amount will be determinedafter completion of ELE audit)
107.30 107.30 31//8/'15
Rent (124 nos. Cluster Offices) 0.42
0.97 1.39
31//8/'15
Utilities (124 nos. Cluster Offices)
0.18
0.16 0.34
31//8/'15
Printing & Stationeries (124 nos. Cluster Offices)
0.12
0.18 0.30
31//8/'15
Repair & Maintenance (124 nos. Cluster Offices)
0.17
0.25 0.42
31//8/'15
Communication Costs (Internet, Cell phone costs etc. for 124 nos. Cluster Offices)
0.10
0.61 0.71
31//8/'15
A2 $ 0.32
$ 0.30 $ 0.62 -
$ 0.33 $ 0.33
31
Financing of Village Development and Risk Reduction Plans :
25.21
23.45 48.66 -
73.01 73.01
VDRRF 25.21
23.45 48.66
VDRRF (Proposals submitted by District teams have been appraised: Barisal - 25 Vil. for CISF Office Building 2nd/3rd Instalments, Jamalpur-IDF (2nd) 10 nos. SF (2nd) 20 nos. Office Building (2nd/3rd) 22 nos., Rangpur- IDF (2nd) 43, SF (2nd) 68 nos. & Office Building (2nd) 07 nos.
25.47 25.47
Performance fund for A & B grade SIPP-II 1689 villages.
47.54 47.54
B Institutional Development and Services at Inter-Village and National Levels
B1 Development and
Strengthening of Inter village Organizations:
$ 0.004
- $0.004 $ 0.17 $ 0.17
0.290
- 0.290 12.87 12.87
Training to sub-committies of NJCS
0.290 - -
IDF for NJCS (Naogaon: 6-Cluster NJCS and 1-District NJCS and Kurigram: 6-Cluster NJCS and 1-District NJCS)
12.13 12.13 6/8/'15
20/9'15
Training to sub-committies of NJCS (Different sub-committees of District and Cluster NJCS at Kurigram, Naogaon, Sherpur Districts)
0.74 0.74 6/8/'15
20/9'15
B2 Business Promotion and Livelihoods and Market Linkages :
$ 0.01 $ 0.02 $ 0.03
- $ 0.01 $ 0.01
0.18
1.51 1.69 -
0.93 0.93
32
Consultancy Fees for PIF Manual
0.51
0.51
1/6/'15 15/7/'15
Stakeholder Workshop (4 workshops, Duration 1-day, Participants: Different service providers and market operators, 30 person per workshop.)
0.38 0.38 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Consultancy Fees for IGA Survey
1.00
1.00
27/5/'15
26/8/'15
Skill Training (4 Batches, 1-day, Participants: Producer Group members and LSP per batch 35 persons)
0.35 0.35 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Thematic Meeting 0.10
0.10
Thematic Meeting (1 no., 1-day, Participants: DO & CO total 30 participants)
0.03 0.03 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Exposure Visit 0.08
0.08
Exposure Visit (2 nos, 1-day, Participants: Staff and producers total 35 participants )
0.17 0.17 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
B3 Creating Conditions for Emploment Generation
$ 0.0003
$ 0.02 $ 0.02
-
$ 0.01 $ 0.01
0.02
1.91
1.93
-
1.01 1.01
Consultancy Fees for Youth Survey
1.91
1.91
1/7/'15 30/9/'15 Training (3 Batch, 3-days, Participants: CF, CO, DO total 75 person)
0.34 0.34 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Training 0.020 0.02
Youth Festival (15 nos, 1-day, Participants: Unemployed youth)
0.20 0.20 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Workshop with potential partners (1 no., 1-day, Participants: Different stakeholders, unemployed youth, community members etc.)
0.47 0.47 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
C Capacity Development and Partnership Building from Cluster to National Levels
C1 $ 0.05 $ 0.21 $ 0.26
- $ 0.02 $ 0.02
33
Capacity Building of SDF Staff-National, Regional & District
2.48
17.76 20.24 -
1.26 1.26
Consultancy Fees for Technical Audit
1.66
1.66
1/5/'15 30/9/'15 Staff Orientation (2 Batch, 3-days, Participants: CF, CO, DO & RS total 60 person)
0.44 0.44 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Consultancy Fees for Internal Audit-AHKC
4.80
4.80
1/7/'15 3/10/'15
Training on Value Chain (3 Batch, 3-days, Participants: CF, CO, DO total 90 persons)
0.36 0.36 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Consultancy Fees for FM Manual
0.19
0.19
23/4/'15
22/6/'15 ToT on ESMF (2 Batch, 3-days, Participants: RS, DO total 60 persons)
0.27 0.27 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Consultancy Fees for Procurement Manual
0.25
0.25
1/6/'15 30/7/'15
Training on Social accountability (1 Batch, 2-days, Participants: CF, CO, DO total 30 person)
0.10 0.10 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Consultancy Fees for ESMF Operational Manual
0.78
0.78
5/5/'15 4/7/'15
Training on data entry for Piloting of ICT (1 Batch, 2-days, Participants: DEO, Community total 30 person)
0.09 0.09 1/8/'15
31/8/'15
Salary -
CB Cell HQ Dhaka (3-Managers)
0.37
0.26
0.63
AMT (Dhaka- 1 Manager & 1 Asistant & 6 Regional Teams)
2.10
1.58
3.68
-
ELE payable (Actual amount
will be determined after completion of ELE audit)
-
CB Cell HQ Dhaka 1.93
1.93
AMT (Dhaka & 6 Regional Teams)
6.31
6.31
Staff Orientation 0.010 0.01
C2 Supporting Innovations
- $ 0.04 $ 0.04
- $ 0.04 $ 0.04
-
2.75 2.75 -
3.35 3.35
34
Consultancy Fees for Bangla German Samprity (Package-56) all activity completed, payment shall be made upon submission of final report
2.75 2.75 6/11/'13
30/9/'15
ICT Pilot for VCO activities (Laptop, modem, internet, pen drive, Consultant for Software Dev, Salary of village resource person, & Training etc.)
2.50 2.50 1/8/'15
30/9/'15
IT Product for Server 0.85 0.85 4/6/'15
30/9/'15
D Project Management and Coordination
D1 Overall coordination, management and implementation
$ 0.29 $ 0.84 $ 1.13
- $ 0.01 $ 0.01
23.25
65.41 88.66 -
0.84 0.84
Furniture & Fixtues (Khat-13 nos., Matress-5 nos., Dinning Table-6 nos., Chair-36 nos. etc.)
0.66 0.66 2/7/'15
31/8/'15
Goods- PABX for SDF HQ Dhaka
0.40 0.40 31/8/'15
Salary -
SDF HQ Dhaka 5.77
3.10
8.87 Audit Fees (Gratuity and Earned leave Encashment)
0.12 0.12 5/8/'15
31/8/'15
Regional Offices (Region 3 nos. and 16 District Offices )
15.88
12.91 28.79 LED Monitor for HQ 0.12 0.12 6/8/'15
31/8/'15
- Printing & Stationeries 0.20
0.20
ELE payable (Actual amount will be determinedafter completion of ELE audit)
-
SDF HQ Dhaka 9.00
9.00
Regional Offices (3 nos.) 16 District Offices
32.07 32.07
-
Rent (SDF HQ, 3 Regional Offices and 16 District Offices)
0.52
1.37
1.89
Utilities (SDF HQ, 3 Regional Offices and 16 District Offices)
0.09
0.50
0.59
Printing & Stationeries (SDF HQ, 3 Regional Offices and 16 District Offices)
0.02
0.10
0.12
35
Repair & Maintenance (SDF HQ, 3 Regional Offices and 16 District Offices)
0.10
1.20
1.30
Communication Costs (SDF HQ, 3 Regional Offices and 16 District Offices)
0.20
0.04 0.24 30/9/'15
Fuel for Car (SDF HQ, Region & Districts)
0.24
0.35
0.59
Training (Regional Specialists on Inception of NJLIP 1 batch)
0.04
0.10
0.14
Meeting Expenses (RDs and DMs)
0.05
0.10
0.15
Advertisement (ICT, IT product for Server etc.)
0.50
0.50
Legal Expenses (Legal opinion/ Support)
0.20
0.20
CC TV 0.36 0.36 30/7'15
Photocopier Machine (For SDF HQ and 3 Reions)
2.75 2.75 24/5/'15
Misc. 0.340 0.1 0.44
D2 Monitoring, Learning, communication and evaluation
$ 0.02 $ 0.29 $ 0.31
- $ 0.04 $ 0.04
1.06
22.92 23.98 -
3.95 3.95
Printing of News Letter (January to June 2015) 10,000 pcs.
0.08 0.08
5/8/'15 31/8/'15 IEC material (Poster 51,000 pcs.)
0.45 0.45 5/8/'15 25/9/'15
SDF Brochure (1,500) 0.30 0.30 10/08/15
15/09/15
Consultanancy fees for 1st Follow Up Survey
9.68
9.68
31/3/'15
30/9/'15 Printing of Annual Report (1,000 pcs with Envelop 200 pcs.)
0.25 0.25 5/8/'15 25/9/'15
Consultanancy fees for ESMF (BKD Raja)
0.49 0.49
19/10'14
27/12/'14
Digital Pictorial (1000 video CD)
0.25 0.25 25/9/'15
Consultanancy fees for-PMA CNRS (Package-15)
7.86 7.86
5/12/'12
30/6/'15
Leaflet (60,000 nos.) 0.10 0.10 25/9/'15
Consultanancy fees for PMA CNRS (Package-16)
4.58 4.58
5/5/'12
30/6/'15
Consultant for BCRR and Community Finance
2.00 2.00
36
Consultanancy fees for MIS Software Datasoft
0.23 0.23
5/1/'12
30/6/'15
Meeting, Workshop 0.60 0.60
Meeting, Workshop 1.06
1.060
Total Million BDT
99.88
282.03 381.91 -
101.22
101.22
**Expected Exchange Loss
Total Million US$
Note:
Amount in Million BDT
Amount in
Million: US$
* The total funding for SIPP-II was SDR 76 million (US$ 115 million). In fact SDF has already received US $ 115.64 million. This has resulted from the fluctuation of exchange rate between SDR and US $. SDF will get remaining 0.11 million US$ from WB as per client connection information.
(a) Revised budget of SIPP-II 9121.44 $ 115.75
(b) Actual Disbursemnt Up to June 15 8624.25
$ 109.38
(c) Balance after June 30' 2015 (a-b) 497.19
$ 6.37
(d) Actual Disbursement July'15
99.88 $ 1.28
+ (e) Committed for August' 2015 282.03
$ 3.62
(f) Planned for August'2015 101.22 $ 1.30
(g) Sub Total (d+e+f) 483.13 $ 6.19
(h)Anticipated Exchange Loss 14.06
$ 0.18
(i) Expected Balance available after August 0.00
$ (0.00)
* For converting US $ into BDT and considering fluctuation of exchange rate SDF has considered the average exchange rate i.e between BDT 78 and 80.
37
Annex - IV
Agreed Follow-up Actions status- as of August 15, 2015
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
1. Prepare village by village table on status of disbursements, umbrella agreement, over-allocation, and amended umbrella agreements.
SDF March 15, 2015
Completed. A detailed report on Village by village disbursement has already been prepared and sent to World Bank. This report contains information such as no. of households, eligible village development fund, actual disbursement, information on UFA amendment as necessary.
2 Understanding better the reasons behind the large cash holdings and devising and implementing appropriate remedial actions
SDF April 30, 2015
In Progress. Small loan size, not bringing all beneficiaries into loan coverage and inability to handle bigger loans are the main reasons. Several meetings were held with VCOs in 3 regions to identify reasons behind the large cash holding and following remedial actions were taken :
Increase the loan coverage;
Provide higher amount of loans to potential NJG members. If we compare with the last quarter, current average loan size increased to BDT. 16,349/- from 15,780/- and SF loan coverage improved to 74% from 71%. Similarly, a significant amount of unutilized/ idle SF fund has been utilized during this period. A total of BDT 471.35 million has been utilized during Jan- June 2015.
3 Undertaking an in-depth review of the principal factors behind delinquencies and devising/implementing remedial actions
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Factors behind delinquencies were identified through – filed visit; meeting with VCOs and NJG members; and meeting with field staff; The identified principal factors behind delinquencies are as follows:
Migration;
Multiple loans from different sources;
Investment in non-profitable IGAs.
38
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
To reduce the above factors and improving the community finance activities, following remedial actions have been taken:
Hand holding coaching on loan as well as fund management has been provided to VCOs;
Ensuring the effective performance of Loan appraisal committee;
Providing information on potential and profitable IGAs;
Providing necessary support to member villages by NJCS.
As a result, the rate of delinquency has been reduced to 11.70% from 14.20%.
4 Continuing to analyze the VCO profitability data with a view to determining the underlying causes of enhanced or deficient profitability in order to draw lessons and action plans for supporting struggling VCOs
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. VCO profitability data is analyzed on a half yearly basis (completed in June 2015).
The main factors behind the deficit of VCO profitability are as follows:
Overdue amount laying with VCOs;
Large amount of fund in some villages remain with VCO bank account resulting in increasing the amount of idle fund.
Cluster wise action plan for supporting VCOs has been developed by Cluster team which is monitored by district team with the assistance of regional team. During this time, a total of 70% VCOs are making profit for their sustainability while it was 54% in Dec. ’14.
5 Discussing the possibility to expanded the scope of work of the internal auditor (i.e. auditing financial accounts and internal controls for a sample of VCOs in order to validate the information currently gathered by SDF staff), and if agreeable to them, adjust their terms of reference accordingly
SDF/WB March 31, 2015
In Progress. The audit firm has started their assignment on July 3, 2015 and will submit the final report by Sept. ‘15.
6 Organizing training for NJCS (prior to VCO audits) on such topics as: (a) key productivity, efficiency, and
SDF May 31, 2015
Completed. A 3-day training module has been developed by concerned thematic manager in collaboration with CB cell focusing on productivity, efficiency, profitability ratio and how to figure out basic financial
39
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
profitability ratios, and how to interpret; (b) basic financial statements; (c) what to expect from and how to interpret financial audits.
statements, auditing etc. The thematic manager and CB cell started facilitating this training. Meanwhile, SDF conducted 4 training programs in Jamalpur, Barguna, Nilphamari and Gaibandha districts where 37, 40, 25 and 35 Savings & Credit sub-committee leaders of NJCS received training respectively. This type of training programs will be continued in remaining 12 districts until December 2015.
7 Rolling out the pilot of Advisory Committees for the NJCS immediately
SDF asap
In Progress. A 3-member Advisory Committee of NJCS at Jamalpur district has been formed on 13 June 2015 on a pilot basis. The first introductory meeting of advisory committee and the executive committee of NJDCS was held on 29th June 2015.
8 Completing the content for the VCO accounting software soonest in order to launch this pilot at the earliest; before launching the pilot, sharing with the Bank a note on the key objectives/expected outcomes of the pilot (i.e. the parameters against which the pilot’s success/failure will be judged)
SDF March 31, 2015
In Progress. The content for VCO accounting software along with key objectives/expected outcomes and few reports were initially shared with Bank team and the Bank provided some comments for improvement. The Bank team also suggested SDF to review internally further to explore getting/already developed software from consulting firm. In this connection, the ToR is awaiting Bank’s clearance.
9 Initiating the process of looking for external funding opportunities from other agencies and organizations which might be willing to assist the VCOs with the needed computer equipment
SDF May 31, 2015
In Progress. In the meantime, SDF started exploring funding from other sources. A draft concept note has been prepared for implementation of poverty eradication program principally focusing on health, nutrition and youth employment. This concept note has also contained a section for supporting the VCOs with computers and other equipment.
10 Extracting data for SIPP-II villages from the overall data set in order to more adequately gauge performance under the project
SDF May 31, 2015
In Progress. Not completed yet and will be able to submit within two weeks’ time
40
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
11 Looking at the implications of the implicit “shareholding” character of a JSC (i.e. who owns the stock, etc.) as part of GP Registration under the Societies Act; starting to draft the prototype for the GP Memorandum and Articles of Association
SDF May 31, 2015
In Progress.
In order to phasing out from village institutions under SIPP-II and providing a legal status, three renowned Law Firms were consulted.
A draft Article of Association (AoA) for NJCS was prepared and the AoA is being reviewed by World Bank.
JSC has been consulted and they advised to communicate with NSI for clearance in a easier way.
NSI to be contacted by September 2015.
AoA for GP registration will be drafted followed by the feedback of WB on the AoA of NJCS.
12 Examining prospects for introducing the declining balance approach to service charge administration and possibly pilot it out if prospects are deemed promising
SDF asap
In Progress. Currently the service charge is being calculated manually with the help of CF by using declining balance method. Although it’s a very difficult and time consuming task for the community and percentage of error seems higher. SDF is trying to complete the task by Sept.’15 keeping the error as much less as possible It would be easier and convenient for the community if the project introduces software system. The SDF would introduce online software system in NJLIP at village level, so that the service charges could easily be determined through this process.
13 Continuing to sensitize and equip SDF field staff on increased focus on VCO financial management
SDF asap
Completed. Identified the weakness of the field staff on the facilitation skills of community finance activities. Meanwhile, SDF provided training on “Community Finance and Accounts Management” to 480 field staffs during Jan-July’15.
14 Redeploying an additional SDF staff member to assist the Manager of Community Finance
SDF asap
Completed. Mr. Mrittunjoy Roy, MIS officer has been assigned for providing necessary support to Manager Community Finance.
41
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
15 Submit TOR for all core SDF staff position to the Bank for review
SDF asap
Completed. Job descriptions for all the core staff have been cleared by WB and are in implementation.
16 Prepare a detailed village-wise completion plan for all infrastructures that still need to be started or completed.
SDF asap Completed. Detailed village wise completion plan for all type of infrastructures have been prepared.
17 Prepare a complete village-wise list of all infrastructures, maintenance plans, and maintenance funds available, including GS offices
SDF asap Completed. A complete village-wise list of all infrastructures, maintenance plans and maintenance funds including GS offices have been prepared.
18 Prepare TOR for technical audit including impact assessment of completed infrastructures.
SDF March 31, 2015
In Progress. SDF signed contract agreement with Dr. Asif Zaman for conducting technical audit including impact assessment and started works since July 10, 2015. The consultant has submitted the inception report and continuing his assignment as per plan. The final report will be available by September 30, 2015.
19 Selection of individual consultant for technical audit including impact assessment
SDF April 15, 2015
20 Prepare detailed analysis on skills and employment loans, their status and remedies for improving repayment rates where needed (including proposed adjustments for NJLIP)
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Detailed analysis on skill and employment loans has been carried out and identified the weaknesses. Hand holding training on the remedies for improving of repayment rates was provided to field staff and VCO members so that they could improve the situation. The current CRR is 86%.
21 Undertake analysis of youth employment activities, detailing results, reasons for drop-outs, development paths of youth once employed, returns on skill development, link between skills
SDF June 15, 2015
In Progress. An Individual Consultant has been hired for conducting the survey. The survey has been designed with a sample size of 717 nos of employed youths. The consultant has submitted Inception report. The final report will be available by September 2015.
42
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
development training received and businesses started, etc.
22 Prepare design for self-employment survey and tracking of employment activities
SDF May 31, 2015
23 Prepare design for one-time vulnerable grants and tracking of progress
SDF April 15, 2015
Completed. One-time vulnerable grant is being tracked through MIS
regularly. Through this process, it is found that a total of 35,321
vulnerable received one-time grant from project out of which 27, 619
(78%) vulnerable joined NJG and started savings & credit activities.
Moreover, 29% (10,109) vulnerable have accessed SF as of July
2015.
24 Finalize emergency fund guidelines and submit to Bank
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. An emergency fund guideline was prepared and shared with WB and the World Bank provided feedback on the draft guideline. The guideline has been finalized accordingly and can be functional through sharing during mission.
25 Prepare list of status of emergency fund by village including number of beneficiaries participating, fund size and usage
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Village-wise status report on emergency funds has been prepared.
26 Propose handling and oversight of emergency funds particularly in districts being phased-out.
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Draft emergency fund handling guideline has been prepared.
27 Prepare detailed activity report for the NJCS including actions taken and fund usage.
SDF April 30, 2015
In Progress. District wise detailed report on NJCS activities including fund usages has been prepared. The NJCS activity report has been incorporated in QPR. Balance sheet for existing NJCSs has been prepared by Jamalpur & Jamalpur NJCSs.
43
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
28 Prepare balance sheet for existing NJCS for current FY
SDF June 30, 2015
29 Prepare detailed overview on the business partnerships
SDF April 15, 2015
Detailed business partnership report has been prepared. The report on business partnership has been incorporated in last quarterly report (April-June 2015) and submitted to WB.
30 Prepare TOR for IGA survey and submit to Bank for review
SDF March 31, 2015
In Progress. Consultant has started survey as per TOR from 27th May 2015 and will submit report by 27th August 2015.
31 Conduct detailed IGA survey SDF May/June 2015
32 Submit progress report on producer group linkages with formal financial institutions
SDF May 15, 2015
Completed. Progress report on linkage building between producer groups and financial institutions were submitted to WB on 23 June, 2015.
33 Prepare TOR for the consultancy to prepare the PIF Manual for NJLIP
SDF March 15, 2015
Completed. The final draft of PIF manual has received a few comments from WB and SDF already incorporated those comments and thus finalized.
34 Assess the effectiveness of the BGS activities related to project youth; assure that BGS is providing the missing information
SDF May 15, 2015
Completed.
The effectiveness of BGS activities has been assessed physically and interacted with the trained and employed youths on a regular basis.
BGS has submitted the missing information such as nos. of youth employed through wage and self-employment initiatives, nos. of youth employed through job fare and youth information center.
35 Submit evaluation report of BGS activities to Bank
SDF July 15, 2015 In Progress. The contract agreement of BGS has been extended from 30 June to 30 August 2015 without adding additional cost.
BGS conducted a national workshop on the piloting of the concept on 27 July 2015.
BGS submitted a draft report on the workshop which will be shared with the mission.
44
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
The report on BGS activities will be assessed and submitted to WB in September 2015.
36 Complete arsenic tests for all tube-wells
SDF May 31, 2015
Completed. Arsenic tests for most of the installed tube-wells have been completed. Out of 5597 installed tube-wells, arsenic test has been completed for 5110 and the remaining 487 tube-wells will be tested by August 2015. It is reported that 146 (2.85%) Tube wells found arsenic contamination.
37 Submit 2014 annual report SDF asap In Progress. The printed copy of SDF’s Annual Report 2014 will be available by the 2nd week of August 2015.
38 Submit draft contracts for follow-up survey to Bank for review and no objection
SDF asap In Progress.
According to our plan, Household survey and village profile have been completed in all 480 villages.
The 60 FGDs have been conducted in 4 districts i.e. Kurigram, Naogaon, Mymensingh and Barisal. Each FGD session consist of 8-10 members from the ‘NutonJibon’ group member. Participants have been selected randomly following certain criteria. Out of total 60 FGDs, 52 have been completed up to July 2015 and the remaining 8 will be completed by first week of August 2015.
A total of 20 FGDs for second generation institutions have been
completed in Jamalpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Barguna
districts.
Data entry and cleaning is going on. The consultant will complete their assignment by September 2015.
39 Submit pilot design outline and specifications of IT equipment to the Bank for review and no objection
SDF asap In Progress. After cancellation of first tender document, SDF published re-tender on 30th July 2015 and the deadline for submission of EOI is 13th August 2015.
45
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
40 Submit quarterly progress reports timely and improve the reporting format
SDF asap Completed. Recent QPR (April to June 2015) has been submitted to WB on 30th July 2015.
41 Submit annual work plan SDF asap Completed. The Annual Implementation Plan has been submitted to World Bank along with PIP.
42 Submit process monitoring reports to the Bank immediately after received by SDF on a regular basis.
SDF immediately Completed. Quarterly PMA report for the period of Apr.- Jun. 2015 has been submitted to WB.
43 Prepare table on the issues identified by the process monitoring process and actions taken – update monthly and include in SDF’s quarterly reports
SDF monthly Completed. Month-wise process monitoring findings issues have been identified and actions status is updated on regular basis. The summarized status is also incorporated in the recent QPR (Apr-Jun ’15).
44 Process monitoring findings that relate to misuse or corruption to be recorded in governance reports and status and action taken regularly updated
SDF monthly Completed.
Misuse and corruption related records identified by PMA are recorded in governance reports on regular basis. All the actions related progress has been updated. Moreover, SDF Governance department has been taking necessary measure on the basis of PMA findings.
The PMA and SDF monitoring teams also follow-up those activities on monthly basis.
45 Update information on misappropriation cases to ensure that all cases are captured; submit updated list to the Bank
SDF March 15, 2015
Completed. Updated list of misappropriation cases was submitted to WB.
46
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
46 Submit village-wise table on problem villages, status, actions taken and next steps
SDF asap Completed. Updated list of problem villages, status and actions have been submitted to WB.
47 Submit draft final report on communication strategy
SDF asap Completed. Communication Strategy has been finalized upon getting concurrence from WB.
48 Submit draft revised COM to the Bank for review and comments
SDF March 31, 2015
Completed. Revised COM (Community Operational Manual) containing 15 Chapters submitted to WB and final approval obtained.
49 Regularly update budget status and available funds
SDF ongoing On-going. Budget status has been reviewed by Regional Directors and SDF HQ on monthly basis.
50 Submit table on planned additional activities and their estimated costs
SDF March 31, 2015
Completed. Additional planned activities have been reviewed and submitted table on additional activities and their estimated costs to WB.
51 Submit report on village level governance issues and implementation of GAAP plans
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Village level governance issues and GAAP plans were described and reported in QPR (Apr.- Jun. ’15).
52 Submit report on usage of grievance system, main grievances received, their status and how being addressed
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Grievance Redress system has been introduced and addressed issues has been updated accordingly.
53 Submit update on the investigation into allegations received.
SDF April 14, 2015
Completed. Already resolved.
54 Initiate independent review of SDF’s gratuity fund
SDF June 30, 2015
In Progress. The final report will be available by August 15, 2015.
55 Pilot e-fund transfer in selected area
SDF Sep. 30, 2015
In Progress. Two effective meetings were convened with WB and SDF team and determined some scope of works for piloting of e-payment/ e-fund system in line of Bank’s comments.
47
Agreed Actions By Whom By When Status as of August 15, 2015
SDF conducted meeting with Bank official of Eastern Bank Ltd. And shared the SDF requirement on e-fund transfer provision. SDF will take several opinions from other private commercial bank and will finally conclude this issue.
56 Update procurement plan with the additional agreed activities/contracts planned
SDF April 30, 2015
Completed. Procurement plan has been updated and submitted to WB
48
Annex - V
Mission Field Observations in Barisal Region
District Upazila Union Cluster Village Mission Field Observations
Barguna Amtali Chawra Chawra Paschim
Patakata-1 VCO is very active and it conducts regular meetings. Original SF allocation has been
significantly increased over the last 4 years. VCO is profitable. Total amount of SF is
considered too small to service all requirements. However, about 30-35 % of the SF is
currently held in Bank, which is explained by the seasonality in the demand. Each
member of the VCO committee spends about 3-5 days per months for conducting VCO
activities. VCO appreciates and feels confident to handle a computerized MF system but
constraints exist (e.g. GS office has no electricity supply).
Barguna Amtali Chawra Chawra Kalibari-2 VCO situation is similar to Paschim Patakata-1 community. VCO is profitable. The
secretary is member in the VCO committee at the cluster society and she attended several
meetings discussing constitutional issues.
Pirojpur Bhandaria Telikhali Paschim
Junia
Vumihin
Meetings appear to be conducted regularly by all committees. The Village Matrix needs
to be revisited, since the numbers reported do not align with what the villagers are saying.
There is inconsistency of data in the village matrix and the project team needs to revisit
entry fields to ensure that data presented at the village level is consistent with that
recorded and submitted to the cluster and district units. Entry fields for employment loans
appeared conspicuously empty across all villages visited and require verification by the
project team. Four issues emerged to inform implementation of NJLIP:
1. Regarding community infrastructure, the village paid for 11 tube wells, for which one
contract was created to get a better price. However, 10 of the 11 tube wells are
contaminated with arsenic, and the CISF funds are exhausted. In arsenic prone areas,
it may be better to divide contracts for tube wells to see how prevalent the arsenic
problem is. Alternatively, a rainwater harvesting system could be purchased with the
remaining funds. This village had no funds remaining for such a solution.
2. There was contradictory information on testing of water systems for arsenic
contamination (some said every 6 months, others said once a year). First, it is
49
important to clarity in the policy. Second, given the assertion that arsenic levels in
tube wells fluctuate, should more frequent testing be supported?
3. NJLIP should adopt a pest management policy as it is funding agriculture in almost
every village. Some villagers said they were only using organic fertilizer, others said
they were using fertilizers and pesticides. The project staff said that the men do the
application and they know what they’re doing, but the Bank’s experience would argue
otherwise. SDF could draw on the IPM manuals of other projects. The capacity
building unit should prepare a TOT for training SDF staff in order to get correct
messages to the village.
4. The villagers need more facilitation/mobilization regarding the formation of producer
groups. The ones that exist are in their early phases, and the villagers specifically
asked for help from the Society in building their capacity. Moreover, the selection of
producer groups—1 dairy, 1 poultry—is surprising giving that 47.8% of the SF loans
and 48% of the borrowers were for fisheries. Even though majority of funds borrowed
for IGAs went towards fishing activities and these were carried out by their spouses,
the loan recipients were not in position to provide data on expenditures and profits
being made from the activities. The women at the meeting said that there was no need
for a producer group because their husbands catch the fish in the morning and sell it in
the market in the afternoon—“there is no production”. This shows a need to increase
understanding of producer groups and their purpose.
Pirojpur Bhandaria Ikri Dakkin
Bothla Most of issues discussed in this village are the same as above. The issue of Operations
and Maintenance emerged here during the discussion. There is an O&M Committee, but
they have not collected funds. The village matrix is also problematic in terms of the
accuracy of the data (CISF data shows that for the non-GS Building infrastructure
investments, they received BTK 672,788 and had spent BTK 484,477. Matrix reports that
they have BTK 230,046 in the Bank whereas it should be BTK 188,311).
NJLIP needs to bring more attention to the need to plan for maintaining infrastructure. We
were told multiple times that they were “planning for things that had not happened yet”—
but that is precisely the purpose of an O&M fund.
In both villages, beneficiaries had taken loans for dairy production. However, their milk
production levels were low across the board. Most beneficiaries had taken some training
50
on the IGA but use of technologies that could improve productivity was very limited and
would need to be emphasized in the new project.
The village was a full paid up member of the Nuton Jibon Society and it had already
received support from the Society to recover outstanding loan amounts from defaulters.
The community indicated that it would be looking to solicit more support from Societies
for similar activities but also for training to improve community operations. NJLIP will
need to provide the necessary support to ensure that Societies are well capacitated to
provide this demand from their members.
Barisal Babugonj Dehergati Uttar
Paschim
Rakudia
Household livelihood visits: Mission visited two dairy and one fish producing
beneficiaries. Both dairy households used SF loan to replace traditional breed cows by a
cross-breed cows by selling the previous animal and combining the sales revenue with an
SF loan for the purchase of a high value cow. Beneficiaries are well aware about technical
as well as financial parameters. Their difficulties are access to services (e.g. AI was
delayed because of rain) and problems with flood and water management during the wet
season. Both dairy IGA are profitable (between 3000 and 4500 Tk per month net profit).
A significant amount of cash income (at least 60-70 percent is used for children’s
education). The fish producer was less knowledgeable about the financial parameters.
However, the activity seems very profitable. The husband of the beneficiary was reported
to have good ‘connections’ to the fishery department and is well aware of all technical as
well as financial parameters.
There are similar issues on O&M—committees exist, but funds are not saved. One
possible solution would be to move the funds left over in the bank accounts for the CISF
into an O&M fund for the respective village. Issues of the fungibility of these funds and
the nature of the accounts they are in need to be resolved to determine if this is a workable
solution.
The meeting with One-Time Grant recipients revealed a number of issues that could be
handled with a broader approach to social mobilization and improved training of the GS
and the Societies. One OTG recipient had invested her BTK 5000 on one goat and 2-3
chickens, all of which died. She was back in poverty and had lost the livelihood assets.
Several of the OTG recipients were using part of their grant to meet health care costs,
51
some more than 50% of the grant. All of them have their national ID cards, but only some
were able to get the necessary cards for the old-age pension, and 2 were sharing a card for
the food grant for the poorest. It appears that they were told that the Upazilla had run out
of OAP cards, but they could try again next year. More focus on the underlying causes of
poverty—beyond income—such as health costs could be addressed through collective
action by the GS and/or the Societies to leverage entitlement programs for villagers. SDF
should catalogue the entitlement programs that would be available for the poor, the aged,
the infirm, and the disabled. The GS could collect the names and other relevant
information of the villagers who are eligible for different programs. Either the GS or the
NJ Society could liaise with officials at the Upazilla level and above to ensure that
villagers get what they are entitled to. There should be a training program for GS
members and Societies on entitlements, what information is needed to access them, and
how to engage local authorities to ensure access.
In addition, training for OTG members is advisable for some technical assistance/training
to be provided consistently as some of the assets were lost due to lack of knowledge on
the part of beneficiaries.
50
Annex - VI
Action Plan for the VCO Micro-finance Computerization Pilot
Sl
No Title of Activities
Respon-
sibilities
Status
&Timeline
1 Identification of pilot villages SDF Done
2 Identification of resource person Community Done
3 Define the duties &responsibilities of resource person SDF Done
4 List down or confirm the data field which is to be kept or
captured in LMS SDF Done
5
Purchasing of required equipment and accessories related to the
data entry from village level through a web-based system
(generally Laptop, Modem and others)
SDF By 25/08/2015
6 Designing and developing a user friendly system in LMS SDF&
Consultant By 20/09/2015
7 Develop Pilot Assessment Methodology and Format incl.
datasheets, questionnaire, etc. SDF By 20/09/2015
8 Preparation of User’s Operational Manual and rolling out the
system
SDF&
Consultant By 25/09/2015
9 Providing the operational training to the resource persons SDF By 15/10/2015
10 Assigning the responsibilities to the resource persons and SDF
Staff* SDF By 15/10/2015
11
Operation of Computerized System by the villagers
Data collection from community registers / ledgers.
Data validation
Data entry in LMS
Data verification and authorization
Data updating in LMS when necessary
Community
with full
support of
SDF
10/10/2015 –
25/11/2015
12 Prepare Interim Assessment Report with possible
recommendations for modifications or additional pilot activities SDF 30/11/2015
13 Analyse Pilot and Prepare Final Pilot Assessment Report and
conclude the piloting with way forward SDF 31/01/2016
51
Annex - VII Key Actions Agreed During This Mission
Agreed Actions By Whom By When
SIPP II
1 Format of activity report sheet to monitor societies will be submitted to
the Bank SDF August 31, 2015
2 Isolated data of SIPP II from overall SIPP program will be submitted to
the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
3 A note on utilization of emergency funds in villages will be submitted
to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
4 Format on systematic information collection and assessment of NJCSs
will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
5 Complete registration of first four community societies SDF October 31, 2015
5 Draft MOA and AOA for registration of GPs will be submitted to the
Bank SDF September 15, 2015
6 Report on productivity, financial returns and technology adoption of
livelihood activities will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 30, 2015
7 Final report on supporting innovations will be submitted to the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
8 Report on assessment of capacity building of SDF staff will be
submitted to the Bank SDF September 15, 2015
9 Release agreed performance grants to ‘A’ and ‘B’ grade villages SDF September 15, 2015
10 All SIPP II activities will be completed and the project will be closed SDF November 30, 2015
11 Draft impact evaluation report SDF/WB December 31, 2015
12 Submit evaluation report on livelihood training for beneficiaries to the
Bank SDF September 15, 2015
13 Initiate action against those responsible for the ineligible expenses and
complete the refund to the Bank SDF ASAP
14 Submit request for early closing date to the Bank SDF ASAP
15 Complete Borrower’s draft ICRR and submit to the Bank SDF November 30, 2015
16 Complete Bank’s ICRR for review WB March 31, 2016
NJLIP
17 Submit revised work plan and procurement plan to the Bank SDF August 31, 2015